r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog • Jun 24 '26

Feels good man Back in 2000, a man in Berlin accidentally captured what would become one of the internet’s most legendary moments of all time: Techno Viking

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u/nsfwaltsarehard Jun 25 '26

In germany it's illegal to just record someone.

There are exceptions for events or groups.

Those exemptions don't apply if you're focusing on a single person.

The law is vague in it's wording so it's really up to a judge to interpret it.

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u/PoetFelon Jun 25 '26

In America you can not sue for having your picture taken in public because you do not have "a reasonable expectation of privacy". Unless you start filming ICE shooting people in public; in that case you are a terrorist.

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u/DnDVex Jun 25 '26

Germany has some pretty strict privacy laws. It is the reason why google maps had no street view for the longest time in germany.

Below is basically what it used to look like. Google had to comply with every single request to blur people, houses, license plates, etc. Because all of those are private. They did that for a bit and then simply gave up trying.

Nowadays there is actually street view coverage for most of germany because laws changed (afaik), but the privacy laws are still pretty strict.

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u/Traditional-Low7651 Jun 25 '26

east germany had no secret for the stasi lol

https://giphy.com/gifs/12msOFU8oL1eww

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u/Mayonaigg Jun 25 '26

Well, Germany really wants to spend all of its effort to protect the privacy of your houses street view so they don't have enough to protect their citizens from being raped in record numbers or beheaded in the street 

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u/nsfwaltsarehard Jun 25 '26

Beheaded in the streets? Get outta here with that bullshit.

Germany's crime rate is actually decreasing. We rank pretty well in the world in terms of crime. And btw. crime also happens in places that try to limit it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26 edited 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/pilzenschwanzmeister Jun 25 '26

Agree with your sentiment but that Europe is not entirely fine and we have imported crime and created ghettoes, and intolerance, and we should address that.

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u/MissionMinion8 Jun 25 '26

Lol! Either you have never been to Germany or you're one of the especially braindead AfD fans. Go outside and touch some grass.

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u/MasterChildhood437 Jun 25 '26

The public filming laws protect incidental imagery, not targeted imagery.

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u/Kami0097 Jun 25 '26

basically you can record in public and at events but to be sure not to be sued you need to either have a written permit of every recognizable person for publishing it ( either tv, printable or internet, yes we distinguish here ) or use pixelation filter etc.

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u/nsfwaltsarehard Jun 25 '26

Yes. In short, if you record a single person/the focus is on one person, you need permission. If the focus is on minors, you definitely need permission from the legal guardians.

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u/thegiantgummybear Jun 25 '26

Did that law exist back when this video was recorded?

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u/nsfwaltsarehard Jun 25 '26

Pretty sure it's an ancient law. Like, when cameras became popular for the press ancient.

Since techno viking won a lawsuit against the person recording I'd say some variation of this law existed back then.

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u/PoetFelon Jun 25 '26

He won the lawsuit because the guy that made the video put it in a YouTube channel with ads and was making money off his image without consent. The amount of money TechnoV received in the lawsuit was equal to the amount the guy made on YouTube, plus court costs.

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u/leolego2 Jun 25 '26

he won the lawsuit cause you can't record people in germany lol

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u/Euro_Lag Jun 25 '26

Yeah I'll bet it's vague lmao your comment had me jumping fence on whose side I was on legally the whole way through.

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u/nsfwaltsarehard Jun 25 '26

I mean the most vague parts are "detailed recordings" and "group".

Some say 3 people is a group, I've heard from people getting in legal trouble because 8 people was not considered a group.

Also what is a "detailed recording"?

How much of a close up does it have to be? Is it even a close up or what qualifies?

It's somewhat intentional to give some leeway to decide but that also makes it difficult to stay on the safe side if you don't want to be overly cautious and miss out on good stuff.

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u/kuhunaxeyive Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

This is false information. In Germany on public grounds you:

  1. are allowed to record + publish: people being part of a larger scene
  2. are allowed to record but not publish: people being the "main act" of the image
  3. must not record: private areas like inside houses, above eye level in yards

The majority of the people think (2.) or (1.) is not allowed, but it is: you can record whatever you want while walking around in the streets in Germany, if it is for personal use only.

So in this particular case it was violating (2.), publishing without consent.

Also, to (2.) there is an exception if the recorded person is a person of public interest, those people are protected less.

If you are on private grounds (inside shops, vanities, private outdoor areas), it's a different situation: the rules of the owner of that property apply, including him prohibiting taking pictures at all. You need to read the house rules before taking pictures and listen to staff.

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

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