Human Unit 763246B

I presume that if you take pictures of a military post you can be charged with spying.

How about if you take pictures in a museum that has a small notice saying "no pictures".

Jail? Is it a law or just a museum rule? In my house, there are rules, too, such as putting the toilet seat down but no fine or jail results from breaking the rule.

LostInAmerica

Taking pictures, especially flash pictures, in a museum that specifically has said not to will get you escorted out with no refund. Some museums are not cheap so this can be a sizeable penalty.

Human Unit 763246B

A museum guard saw my camera and she was very fierce. All of sudden, out of nowhere, she punches my arm and said "no pictures". I got so scared I ran out. I wonder if she can try to call the police even though I just carried the camera around.

Jenbel

A friend in the British Army was caught taking pictures of military stuff in Israel (he was on holiday, but the army had told him in training to take pictures of anything military, so he did ) He was deported, and his passport stamped denying him further entry back into Israel.

Vaze

Doesn't seem to apply in Paris; at the Louvre last week plenty of tourists were taking pictures despite the "No pictures or video" signs posted everywhere. The only place I saw the guards say anything was in front of the Mona Lisa where they were pretty vocal in yelling at people to stop if they saw someone taking pictures

davem4

i took pictures of the sistene chappel despite it saying no pictures.

However i turned off flash and used my sisters head to hold the camera steady.

got three or four pictures then a gurad askes me if i cant read, i respond in another language sorry, and move on :-P

(Yes i am aware flash will damage artwork, hence me not using any flash, so i dont see any harm in it. The signs are there banning photos because 9/10 people dont know how to turn off flash on their cameras).

LostInAmerica

Besides most folks not knowing how to turn off the flash, the main reason for disallowing video/photos without flash is to increase sales in the gift shop. If they let me take a picture I won't buy their postcards...

davem4

Post cards are so cheap anyway :-P 20 cents each i've found almost everywhere i've been to.

dizzy

What I find funny-there was a relatively recent (last 15-20 yrs IIRC) court ruling [_____Art Library v. Corel] that basically said art museums CAN NOT copyright "straight" reproductions of 2D works that have passed into the public domain/expired copyrights.

Teacher49

Yes, flashes will damage paintings. However the issue in the Sistine Chapel is different. The paintings are so far away that the flash with neither help your photo nor damage the the frescoes.

The real issue there is that the company that underwrote a part of the huge costs of the restoration has exclusive copyright on the images and their reproduction for a set period of time. At least that's what my guide said a few weeks ago!

swag

I flew London to Tokyo in '91, with a refueling stop in Moscow. When we landed in the USSR, we were told that we could not get off the plane and not take pix out the windows. Glancing outside, there were military walking the tarmac with rifles.

I decided not to test the policy.

Rampo

A few years ago I was taking a photo of a Thai friend in front of a fountain within a Bangkok shopping mall and had a security guard come over and gruffly point to a sign with a "no photos" glyph. Snce then I've since noticed that almost every Thai shopping mall that I've been to has a similar prohibition. I have absolutely no idea why.

Helena Handbaskets

That's correct. And yet you still see U.S. museums trying to act as if they own coipyrights on all the art in the museum, so that people who don't know better end up paying them royalties they don't need to.

The case was Bridgeman v. Corel. Unfortunately, it only applies in the U.S., and while the reasoning behind it is sound, and should apply elsewhere, Europeans have a different take on copyrights in general than the U.S. does.

The last time I was at the Louvre, they did allow still photography as long as a flash is not used. Many museums allow this. But they typically also forbid tripods on the grounds that they might impede traffic. Most museums forbid videotaping (not sure of the rationale there), and every museum I've been to in Italy forbids all photography.

PTravel

Assuming a private museum, entry is by license. If you violate the license, you are a trespasser. In theory, trespassers can be arrested.

Palal

Same reasoning as tripods - you may bump into someone while videotaping, and they'll sue the museum, etc....