on youtube I watched a British reality show about airports and (mostly foreign) passengers being searched for anything illegal.

What I find troubling is that many of these passengers speak very little English and find it difficult to articulate an answer to what officers ask in English. I remember an Indian national who didn’t speak any English that though he had the right visa to work in the UK, only to find he had been duped by an Indian scammer and was refused entry. He started crying and the crew filmed the whole scene.

This is humiliating to say the least and I wouldn’t want this to happen to me if I visit the UK. My questions:

  • Should a reality crew start recording me, do I have a right to my image and can I tell them to stop recording me? Do tv crews respect that?

  • What about the police? Can they record my face, even if I don’t consent?

  • I also have a cultural question: If an officer at a British airport asks you if he can search your luggage and you say no and you ask him if you are under arrest, what happens then?

  • vestmoriaOPEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    There are a few exceptions and the relevant one here is breaking the law

    could you paste a source?

    Regarding the Indian national: No, no blurred face, which I find denigrating because to me this is sensationalism against a person who cannot defend himself.

    • Devi@kbin.social
      1·
      6 months ago

      So this is the rule -

      https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/section-eight-privacy

      8.1 states the use of crime as a public interest defence.

      I have a problem with the case you state as it appears that they have broken 8.19 as he’s also a victim of crime in this scenario. This is common in police programmes where cases of domestic violence often involve people who are both perpertrators and victims and the general rule is to blur them.

      If you feel you want to, then I’d say complain to OFCOM about this. They can fine the programme makers and force them to blur for future broadcasts.