Piaras Kelly and John Wagner warn that camera phones have expanded the likelihood your organization will be photographed or videoed by someone. So be prepared.
My take: Companies can try to ban the use of cameras and video cameras on their property, but they should provide some direction or training about how to enforce the rules.
I’ve seem many examples of employees getting aggressive and unpleasant when someone innocently (or otherwise) pulls out a camera to take a picture of something or somone. It takes a lot of tact to enforce this kind of rule without offending the public or your customers. And when you’ve invited the public to an event like a fashion show or a product demonstration, you should relax the rules.
The other option is to encourage customers and others to document your organization’s activities, and maybe provide free publicity. But as Wagner notes, that approach could be risky if your employees and your workplaces aren’t up to the task of being documented.
See the group photo pool in Flickr, You Can’t Take Pictures Here!
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1 Ed Kohler // Jan 3, 2006 at 10:11 am
Business models based on controlling content are fighting a losing battle on this one. People can figure this stuff out for themselves. For example, camera phones shouldn’t be used in locker rooms.
For places like restaurants and bars, I’d leave it up to the regular patrons. Chances are pretty good that sports bar patrons wouldn’t care, but a 4 star restaurant patron would probably freak out to see someone using a camera phone while they’re trying to enjoy their meal.
For pre-lease products and services, controlling images is probably still important, but that shouldn’t be too hard to control.