Don't Mess With EU Privacy Laws

Copyright cop wedding crashers fined by Spanish court

The next time you have a wedding, make sure your videographer isn't a secret spy for the RIAA or similar copyright group. This real-life scenario happened to a couple in Spain thanks to the efforts of the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), a rights group for musicians and artists. But although the group managed to bust the reception venue for copyright violations, SGAE itself has been fined for violating the privacy of the newlyweds.

The incident originally took place back in 2005, when SGAE snuck a private detective into the wedding reception acting as a cameraman. The group had suspected the venue—La Doma restaurant near Seville, Spain—for using music without paying royalties. Predictably, this series of events have horrified privacy advocates who argue that the couple's privacy was breached. As noted by The Sunday Times, however, the issue has come to light recently because SGAE has increased its efforts to catch venues that are avoiding royalty payments, and another, similar case is about to go to court.

SGAE claims that the video was taken by guests. However, in the case of the La Doma video, a Seville court ruled that it could not be used as evidence of copyright violations because it was "a clear violation of the constitutional rights to a person's own image." Despite this, La Doma was fined €43,179 for illegally using the music. La Doma got off lightly compared to the SGAE, which was nicked for €60,101 for the privacy violations. So the SGAE's copyright enforcement cost it nearly €18,000—not including court costs.

SGAE apparently doesn't feel that it has done anything wrong, and apparently plans to continue crashing weddings in order to catch venues in the act (and maybe sneak a slice or two of cake in the process). "Using private detectives to investigate fraud is common. We will carry on doing it," SGAE director Pedro Farre told the Times. On the other hand, with cameramen being fined upwards of US$86,000, SGAE may soon find itself hard-up for volunteers to carry out its dirty deeds.

I think the article is overblowing the risk to investigators here. The privacy violation is NOT about the intrusion into the wedding party ("wedding crashers"), it's about the information that was collected about identifiable individuals--in this case, I'd guess embarrassing video of drunken guests dancing horribly ("constitutional right to a person's own image"). The message is clear: don't take video. The only information the investigator needs is the song played, and the time and place. Record more than that and you're asking for trouble.