Shiju, Does that make any of these two of my photographs on the commons illegal? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BETL-BMIC-Hosur-_Road-Junction.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Garden-City-Skyway-Bridge-KRPuram.jpg Also, does the government differentiate between Photography and Videography? --Regards, Srikanth.
On 17 June 2011 21:12, Shiju Alex shijualexonline@gmail.com wrote:
A station is public property and hence nobody should be able to stop you
from photographing it.
That is our assumption. Just like that we assume that all Indian/State Government websites are in public domain since ours is a democractic nation. But in reality that is not true. Government is imposing restrictions on various things through copyright law. Refer to the earlier mails/clarifications sent by Gautham.
See the below site which lists some restrictions regarding photographing Indian Railway assets.
http://www.irfca.org/~shankie/irphotography/irphotography.htm
From there:
THE OFFICIAL VERSION:
India, it would appear, suffers from a persecution complex. Several places are considered restricted in India. These include bridges, railroad yards, railway premises, sheds, workshops, stations and tunnels. These are supposed to be of military importance. Officials are very skittish about the whole thing, and many of them tend to go overboard in trying to enforce these restrictions. Its against the law to take a photograph of a train at the station, yet, you can walk a few metres away, just outside the station limits, and shoot freely from there. Or from the overbridge just before the station. Or from the lineside in open country. Which is why we railfans call these 'idiot restrictions'. But thats another story.
Hence officially, if you are planning on doing some really serious and extensive railroad photography in India, it is absolutely essential for you to apply for and acquire a permit. You will need to write to:
The Joint Director of Public Relations, Railway Board, Rail Bhavan, New Delhi-110001, India.
As far as I know, most of the railway related restrictions are imposed by Indian railways, not by Central Government. But I couldn't find an official document related to this.
Now Railway police/authorities are trying to impose this official/unofficial policy/law through various means.
Shiju
On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 8:37 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan < rsrikanth05@gmail.com> wrote:
Shiju, what problem can railways have? A station is public property and hence nobody should be able to stop you from photographing it. It isn't covered under the Official Secrets Act, is it? Besides, if there was a problem, then a HUGE bunch of photographs from the Commons shouldn't exist. If it were illegal, how come so many films are shot in stations and trains? If anybody wants, I can get a sample clip of a road, which can be applied to rail as well. --Regards,
On 17 June 2011 17:48, Pradeep Mohandas pradeep.mohandas@gmail.comwrote:
hi,
I think since what we want to do is videotape a railway route, the driver's bogey is more suited to this. I would want to film during day time only under good visibility conditions, where possible.
I think we could give the CC-BY-SA license to the Indian Railways.
I do not think there'll be too many people to worry about unlike Google Street View.
Another interesting project could be trying to film rivers from source to where it meets the sea.
It'll also be a way to map a few things.
Great points! Never thought this could be such an interesting discussion. Flipcams are great too!
Pradeep
On 17/06/2011, Vickram Crishna vvcrishna@radiophony.com wrote:
On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 4:42 PM, Pradeep Mohandas < pradeep.mohandas@gmail.com> wrote:
hi,
I understand. But the question is that of access to the driver/guard bogey. We can either be there or not be there at all. Another issue is that
we
can use the video during daytime only.
It's an interesting logistical exercise along with having a "free"
video
tape of all of that length of railway line.
Quite apart from the permission of the Railway authorities, please be
aware
that we, all of us, have a responsibility not to inadvertently record
anyone
without their express permission. This may not be expressed explicitly
in
legal terms in India, hence may not cross the line being drawn by the Creative Commons partners, but is nevertheless an important distinction
to
be recognised whilst undertaking anything as incredibly scaled up as
this.
It could be done, in practical terms, by editing all the footage and blurring all faces, mostly automatically.
For those who think perhaps this is a sort of googly, please do some
reading
on Google Street View, and the judgments of the European Court, aside
from
individual countries such as UK and Germany, just for perspective.
I am totally in favour of this project being done, by the way. If
enough
people can be found across the country who have time and access to
Flips, I
doubt it would be very difficult to carry out, provided the Railways is willing (and it is not illegal) to allow people in the Guard Bogies. I
have
seen Flip night recordings, by the way, and do not think this is a
major
impediment either.
With care (for individuals/faces), I think it might even be possible to
do
on some city suburban rail lines. It may not require any permissions,
if it
is done from passenger carriages. But doing it from the motorman's
viewpoint
(definitely needs permission) could create some totally fascinating
footage.
-- Vickram Fool On The Hill http://communicall.wordpress.com
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-- Regards, ME. Wear a Lungi, Support the Movement My infrastructure invasion... plus other images too.. on Wikimedia Commons. http://bit.ly/d50SIq
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