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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by arsCynic@piefed.social to c/technology@lemmy.world

“Experts in Europe warn that these devices are used to record strangers without their consent, possibly breaching EU law.”

“A small LED light is designed to indicate when recording is taking place, but RTBF's investigators found that tutorials explaining how to conceal the indicator are abundant and easily accessible online.”

Sometimes I have a hard time deciding who I despise more, parasite Mark Zuckerberg or its witless hosts who keep using its products—yes, Zuck's pronoun is it. Ban Ray-Ban, for frick's sake.

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[-] mbirth@lemmy.ml 84 points 1 day ago

There was a similar news article in Germany a few days ago. It was about a "pick-up artist/dating coach/influencer" named Erick Ronaldo secretly filming some girl at the Oktoberfest and posting it to his channel where that girl was ridiculed in the comments. (Fun fact: when the news media approached that guy and asked for a statement, he demanded $7,500 for an interview - which they, of course, didn't pay)

[-] testaccount789@sh.itjust.works 36 points 23 hours ago

he demanded $7,500 for an interview

Is he going to ask the police to pay him for interrogation?

[-] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

heimliches Filmen ist aktuell in Deutschland nicht per se strafbar. Besonders in öffentlichen Räumen sind Betroffene kaum geschützt.

(Roughly in English)

covert filming isn’t currently illegal in Germany per se. Those filmed are rarely protected, especially in public

Filming in public not being illegal, I get, but he’s profiting off of her likeness. Ideally that would be illegal itself, but even if not, could she not sue him for a share? Obviously, putting the burden on victims is not a great remedy, especially because it’s expensive, a huge hassle, and risks the Streisand effect, but I could see a women’s rights organization orchestrating it for her and it might be possible to keep her identity secret.

Again, I don’t think that’s ideal, but it seems better than nothing and wouldn’t preclude criminal charges from going through if the government does figure out how to prosecute this

[-] mbirth@lemmy.ml 12 points 19 hours ago

Filming by itself isn't illegal in Germany, but publishing the footage without consent of everyone in the video is. ("Recht am eigenen Bild") Don't know how this applies if the perpetrator is from the USA and publishes the recording there, though.

And even if - good luck in suing someone from the US while you're still in Germany.

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 4 points 18 hours ago

You could at least get it taken down from YouTube through German privacy rights, since it was filmed in Germany.

[-] Waldelfe@feddit.org 7 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I think that could fall under "Recht am eigenen Bild" (right to your own picture). It gives you the right to decide how images of you are used. If he profits off of photos/videos of her, she should have the right to sue him. It might also be illegal to publish the videos under GDPR law, especially in combination with more personal information like first name or city.

However, big festivals like the Oktoberfest often have a disclaimer that you agree to being filmed and your picture being published due to TV, press etc. being there. I don't know how that would work.

[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 hours ago

right to your own picture

That's pretty handy. Seems like that means you should therefore have the right for it not to be non-consensually sucked into the Meta AI training corpus (and you know it is) or sold to face recognition companies etc.

Just some evidence away from a massive class action lawsuit against Meta. Yes please, spank 'em hard.

[-] Waldelfe@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago

I would love that. I'm not sure if that works, since afaik the law only regulates the publication of your picture and profiting off of someone's photo. In cases of AI training you usually publish it yourself and for example Facebook and Reddit already make you agree to using your photo however they want.

I wonder if AI companies could be sued for using pictures from a private website for training.

[-] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 hours ago

I believe (not a lawyer or expert in that field) that this does not cover covert and targeted filming.

I'd argue it's there to allow TV to make background shots and perform interviews without trouble.

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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