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Civil Rights in Venezuela: Self-Image

10 March, 2014 by tatica 7 Comments

Be a photographer brings the challenge to respect the privacy of those who are captured in our images. It isn’t weird to see photographers capturing random people on the streets, so we ask What if someone takes a picture of me? What can they with with it? What if I don’t agree with the use of it?

In Venezuela, since there isn’t anything such an specific law about this, and knowing a bit how the foreign laws of civil rights work, and after reading a lot, I’m writing this lines so my fellow photographers, and those who are photographed, know the legal reach of the attributions that both can have

What’s the right to the self-image?

Translation may vary, but it’s the right that gives you the ownership of how your physical image is used, forbidding its use without your express consent. Technological advances allow a ton of ways to capture someone’s image without his knowledge,  so this right is a guarantee above the legitimate intrusions of people’s life’s on images that can show your physical image and make you recognizable on any media (television, video, photos or even a cartoon), with an absolute abstraction of your own will. Knowing this right, it’s about protect a legal right that, same as those defined on the fundamental rights, it’s based on respect to the constitutional value of the personal dignity.

As a photographer, What should I do so the Self-Image rights aren’t violated?

It’s not enough to set a Creative Commons, since this doesn’t protect the person on the image. I will talk abut this topic on three potential cases, when you’re hired to shoot an event, when we shoot people at an event we simply attend and we photograph strangers on the street.

when we have been hired to shoot an event.

First thing photographers must do is to give the clients a contract where both parts make a model release agreement or photography consent, so the identifiable people on the images can’t sue you. Here is a simple tutorial on how to write this kind of documents. In my case, i always extend the reach, if my clients agree, pointing them that I might use their images for contests or expositions, and that they cannot claim the making of the photographs, however, they can reproduce them for personal uses as many times as they want.

from the Authors Law

Chapter III
From the rights of the Author
Article 38.- …The right to use a photograph made by a professional photographer, can be object of releasing the rights of it under the same conditions that a work relationship can have, under the terms of the Article 59 of this same Law.

When we photograph people at an event we attend

This is probably the most delicate case since it isn’t the same to take a picture of a crowd than a particular photo. I’ve attend infinity of events where I’ve photograph a ton of people, however, there are two kind of events: Those where the organizers let the attendees know that all the images that are taking of them during the event may be used for marketing purposes and those where there is no explicit rules. On this last case it usually depends on if the organizers will receive some money from the event or not.

If the organizers let the attendee explicitly know that if they sign for the conference, they agree to these term, we can apply the same article that tells that the attendees are ok with them being photographed without their knowledge, so they couldn’t sue in case of issues.

If the organizers haven’t wrote any policy and the event is paid or organizers receive money, then the subject can ask for this image removal. In my case, I’ve been asked to delete some pictures, however, asking  people before taking the picture has been quite a simple solution.

Chapter II
Of the limits of the rights usage
Article 43: Are licit communications:

  1. Those verified on the domestic environment where there is no lucrative interest.
  1. Those with general purposes during official events or religious ceremonies, only when attendees don’t have to pay or any person on the organization receive any monetary benefit for their participation on the event.
  1. Those events with exclusively scientific and didactic interests, on education facilities, without any monetary benefit.

When we photograph strangers on the street

In this case, most of the times, people get blurry doe movement or their faces aren’t sharp enough due a crowd. However, you need to understand that if someone see themselves on the photograph and they don’t agree their publishing, as photographers, we have the duty of remove it OR ask for a model release agreement.

Now, either as someone who has been photographed randomly or a proper model living in Venezuela, What can I do if I’m not Ok with the usage of my photograph?

There are many international laws that cover the Self-Image, despite there is no specific law about it, Constitution and the Intellectual Property Law in Venezuela are good enough to ask the photographer to remove your photograph. Legal bases quote the following:

National Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Chapter III
From the Civil Rights
Article 60. Every person has the right to protect their honor, private life, intimacy, self-image, confidentiality and reputation.
This law will limit the usage of technology to guaranty the honor and personal and familiar intimacy of the citizens and the complete use of their rights.

What can you do in case you don’t agree with the usage of your image?

First thing is to talk, and let the photographer know you don’t agree the way your image is being used. If this doesn’t work, you must try to reach an agreement. As last resource, and under the constitution hale, you can act under a Constitutional right, and as for a civil or penal sue. This must be done at the prosecutor’s office, who has 48 hours to act.

Lets just remind that we should refer to a demand only when the photograph dishonor you, etc. Lets remember that each citizen has a law that protects their honor, intimacy, private life, self-image, confidentiality and reputation under the Constitution.

Now, under the Author’s Rights Law they mention the following:

Chapter II
From the rights of artists
Article 92.- Artists have the exclusive right to authorize or not, the reproduction or communication to the general public, by any mean, of their performance or constructions. However, they can’t oppose to the communication when this is made based on a previous agreement or with commercial purposes.

Final Notes

It’s not a secret that our Laws have a ton of holes, however, when they talk about the image of the citizens, it’s quite clear that there is a protection of it. Lets remember that as photographers, we have a labor of capture reality and not denigrate those who are in front of our lens.

There is too much to read and discuss, however, we need to start with something. I would be happy to start a debate about it, generate some proposals and write a document that could help enrich the current laws so our work, and the integrity of those who we photograph, remain intact.

Sources:

  • Authors Rights Law: http://www.defiendete.org/
  • Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: http://www.oas.org

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Filed Under: Diseño, Eventos, Fedora, Flisol, Fotografía, General, HowTo, Libros, Linux, Ubuntu Tagged With: constitución, derechos, Fotografía, ley

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. sandra says

    Friday February 10th, 2017 at 7:50

    hola. me parece muy ilustrativo lo expuesto. recientemente me ocurrió que un fotógrafo a quien le pague por la fotografía de un evento, no me entrego el material, se escondió, no contestaba llamadas y como se molesto publico las fotos de las niñas que estuvieron en el evento. a que instancias puedo recurrir a denunciar este delito?

  2. noctuido says

    Tuesday March 18th, 2014 at 23:35

    En España no se puede mostrar la imagen de un menor sin el consentimiento de sus padres o tutores. Cuando se hace una foto o video, hay que pixelar o ocultar su cara para que sea irreconocible el menor.

    Saludos.

  3. tatica says

    Wednesday March 12th, 2014 at 20:23

    Saludos Ricardo. Tienes mucha razón en lo que dices, y aunque se que la justicia Venezolana deja mucho que desear, es importante que los ciudadanos conozcan sus derechos y deberes. De esta forma, no solo podemos argumentar con hechos, sino con bases y de esa forma, y difundiendo este tipo de conocimientos, podemos llegarle a mas personas y hacer algo de concientización.

    Por supuesto puedes usar el post, solo recuerda enlazar a la fuente :)

  4. Ricardo says

    Wednesday March 12th, 2014 at 12:17

    Hola Tatica y demás usuarios, saludos. Acabo de registrarme en la página de FLISOL ya que soy amante y defensor del software libre y me interesaría mantener contacto con ustedes sobre las actividades relacionadas. Siguiendo la cadena de links llego a tu blog y me llamó altamente la atención tu artículo. Si bien a unos cuantos les gusta pantallear a otros les parece violatorio de su intimidad el que se use su imagen sin saber donde, como, ni cuando y mucho menos que terceras partes se lucren a sus espaldas. Ahora bien: Nuestra constitución es muy amplia y de las mejores del mundo. Tenemos leyes como arroz y permítanme la expresión coloquial común, por no decir vulgar, pero el detalle está en quien la cumple y quien la hace cumplir. Recuerdo mucho aquella frase celebre ” To be o not to be … ” que traducido completo sería ” Ser o no ser, esa es la cuestión ”
    En tiempos remotos solía denunciar cualquier abuso a las leyes y derechos ciudadanos. En el mejor de los casos, algún empleado público tomaba nota al menos del asunto. Hoy en día comprendo que no vale de nada hacerlo cuando la moral del individuo a quien o quienes corresponde imponer los correctivos es o muy baja o no existe. En el tema de los derechos de autor es bien conocido lo que sucede con la piratería del software, de la música, la violación de los derechos de invención y de patentes. No es la idea ni la mejor solución ser pesimistas y mirar hacia atrás. Solo hago el comentario porque a diario vemos tantas cosas que no deberían ocurrir y que ocurren por faltar precisamente el respeto a la ley, que es la única garante del orden social, cuando se aplica con celeridad e imparcialidad para todos por igual.
    Ricardo Hernández
    [email protected]

    P.D. Dime si permites copiar y redistribuir tu articulo. gracias.

  5. David Guerra says

    Monday March 10th, 2014 at 16:24

    Umm… buen dato!

    Voy a tratar de investigar de investigar mas al respecto, solo por curiosidad.

    Si encuentro algo interesante te cuento ;)

    off_topic: has probado alguna vez la distribución de teclado Dvorak ???

    http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teclado_Dvorak

  6. tatica says

    Monday March 10th, 2014 at 15:58

    David: Es muy probable que en ciertos casos de multitudes, como lo mencioné antes, no aplique. Sin embargo, y es común, si es un programa de bromas, solo aquellas personas que dan su consentimiento son transmitidas. Por eso es usual ver en ciertas transmisiones que a algunas personas se les tapa la cara con aldo de difuminado/pixelado.

    Creo que las televisoras (no estoy segura pero debo revisar) tienen un alegato que indica que las personas que se posicionen por voluntad propia frente a una cámara de TV, están dando su permiso para aparecer; sin embargo, si su integridad personal es trasgredida, pueden demandar por difamación.

  7. David Guerra says

    Monday March 10th, 2014 at 15:53

    Excelente articulo tatica…

    En estos días mi esposa y yo comentabamos al respecto de este tema, sobre un programa de la televisión venezolana que no voy a mencionar, donde en varias oportunidades parecían sorprender a personas en locales nocturnos y en la calle y algunas de ellas se ocultaban de la cámara….

    Dándole el beneficio de la duda a la producción del programa “supusimos” confiadamente que seguramente la producción tenia previsto todos estos aspectos legales que supone la transmisión de imágenes que pueden resultar perjudiciales de algún modo para alguien o que simplemente no quiera que su imagen sea usada en dicho programa.

    No se que opines al respecto ¿…?

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About Tatica

I’m a full-time designer, photographer and community people. I love to analyze how this interactive world works. I’m not a programmer, however that’s how I started. I have been in the field since 2005 and have been loving every minute of it.
I love to learn and teach what I know about FLOSS and I enjoy meeting new friends from all around the world.
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