7 comments

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  Sam

  6 months ago

  Um, if you are at their tradeshow on private property they are absolutely within their rights to prohibit photography.,,,
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  Frode Hegland

  6 months ago

  But Sam, you can take pictures of a building even if it's not government owned right?
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  Henrik B

  6 months ago

  Frode, you can take pictures of a building as long as you are on public property. If you have to enter private property to take the picture, the property owner are within their rights to restrict photography whichever way they want.
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  Anthony

  6 months ago

  Google doesn't own the property and thus, they weren't asserting property rights. I shouldn't have referred to the Moscone as public property, and I apologize.
  
  But under prior case law, I still think the company's ability to have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" (the legal standard to which they referred in their Google Street View statement to the New York Times) at a trade show - one that is open to the public and where photography is permitted - is effectively zero.
  
  As for the actual owners, the TechWeb / O'Reilly folks are not going to ask Moscone to bar photography at this event. The other exhibitors and attendees would not have it.
  
  Anyway, about an hour later, Google straightened out the booth personnel and photographs were allowed.
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  Jim Warren

  6 months ago

  Uh, folks. I ran the West Coast Computer Faires in San Francisco for eight years (last one I ran, in 1983, drew more'n 47,000 attendees), and I'll tell ya - unless the trade-show itself prohibits taking photos in the exhibit areas (which show-owners would almost-never prohibit, since they/we LIKE publicity!), it absolutely IS permissible for anyone to take photos of any areas open to public/attendee access.
  
  (Incidentally, that also includes taking photos in the technical sessions that are organized and operated by the show management, unless prohibited by said management. It also includes photographing of individual attendees, as long as they are in the open/public areas where the admission-paying or freebie attendees are permitted. [Of course, such "public" areas do NOT include the restrooms, etc.])
  
  --jim, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Warren
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  Jim Warren

  6 months ago

  Oh, one caveat however: Exhibitors rent their exhibit space - the booth-space they occupy. As such (and within the limits of their rental contract with the show manager), they CAN control what people do while WITHIN their booth-space. However - just as we (and Google) CAN take whatever photos we desire while remaining in a public area (e.g. on a street as StreetView does) - attendees can take whatever photos they darn-well please, as long as they remain in the aisles and other areas where they are permitted (by the show management and their admission) to be.
  
  --jim
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  Outtanames999

  6 months ago

  In fact, the presumption of photography at will is so great that at most trade shows and conferences today, as an attendees, you typically give them the right to use your likeness when you register. (Read the fine print.) In fact, if you, for some reason do NOT want your photo taken, you have to assert that point with the show management (if the fine print allows that option - if not you would have to forego attending to ensure you are not videotaped or photographed).
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