Helmet camera laws in Switzerland?

[Shut Up Legs]

Is anyone here familiar with Swiss laws regarding the use of helmet-mounted cameras (or any other variation, e.g. on a dashboard)? I did search for these, but couldn't find anything useful. I do know that their privacy laws have restricted the coverage of Google StreetView in Switzerland, so naturally I wondered if this extended to the use of personal video cameras.

During my upcoming cycling trip in the northern summer, I'll be recording various mountain descents using a helmet-mounted video camera, and one of these descents enters Switzerland, so I'm unsure whether I'd be breaking any law.

Regards & thanks,

--- Victor.

 

[DaveReading]

This might help:

Guidelines on video surveillance in vehicles (Dashcams)

Most of the provisions look as if they would apply to helmet cameras too.

 

[tommaguzzi]

Hard metal helmet mounted camera pushing through your flimsy polystyrene cycle helmet and in your skull after a big off off on a fast decent ?

 

[Drago]

The Swiss authorities do officially recommend skiers etc do not attached cameras to their bonce potties for that reason.

 

[ianrauk]

No one will care or bother you.

 

[Bollo]

This might help:

Guidelines on video surveillance in vehicles (Dashcams)

Most of the provisions look as if they would apply to helmet cameras too.

Just read that and .... wow! Based on those guidelines a decent Swiss brief could argue that any outdoor photo that includes a stranger in the background is illegal.

I've got an extended interest in this as I do the photography/media for Bolletta's skate club and have also written their imaging policy. Dig back a year or two and you'll find a rant thread by me about my (still ongoing) beef with the National Ice Skating Association.

The fact is it's almost impossible to police these kind of rules because of the ubiquity and size of modern imaging devices. You can pick on the obvious manifestations (dash cams, man with DSLR and a couple of kgs of lens ) but that's not the problem, precisely because it's more or less overt.

There are a few caveats, but generally in the UK you're ok photographing and filming people in the UK on public land. There are no specific laws guaranteeing privacy in a public space. This includes images of children, although you'd be asking for trouble lurking around your local park with a go pro. You also need to be aware of what is and isn't public space. Many areas that are used freely by the public are in fact private land (shopping centres, churches, venues etc), where the owner can impose certain restrictions.

I could go on but I'd bore myself....

 

[Cycleops]

What do the Swiss know, they should concentrate on cuckoo clocks, chocolate and pharmaceuticals.

 

[Alex H]

What do the Swiss know, they should concentrate on cuckoo clocks, chocolate and pharmaceuticals.

and knives. Don't forget the knives

 

[Drago]

And guards. Excellent guards.

 

[mikeymustard]

And guards. Excellent guards.

and rolls

 

[Drago]

And cheese. Wonderful cheese.

 

[GuyBoden]

What do the Swiss know, they should concentrate on cuckoo clocks, chocolate and pharmaceuticals.

And, the Bern Patent Office, where Einstein created the modern world........

 

[Drago]

Rubbish. He stole the idea from Herr Siegfried Relativity.

 

[GuyBoden]

Rubbish. He stole the idea from Herr Siegfried Relativity.

Einstein also invented Quantum Mechanics at Bern, even though he didn't like God playing dice..............

Also, Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", after the fire at Montreux, Switzerland.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUwEIt9ez7M

 

[Drago]

Einstein wrote Smoke on the Water? Respect.