Yesterday I posted a Qik video I shot at The Guardian Tech Weekly podcast meet-up. I didn’t ask for anyone’s permission before I started filming, I just went ahead and shot it. Or more accurately, I went ahead and streamed it live onto the internet. No-one seemed to mind. It was afterall a meeting of technology-minded people, many of whom worked in the media and would be used to such things. Still, it got me thinking about the ethics of live video streaming.
As services such as Qik and Flixwagon become more popular, increasing numbers of people will be able to stream anything they like onto the internet. Of course, many people already shoot video on their phones and then upload it to the internet later but it’s the live aspect that brings a whole load of new ethical questions into play.
When TV crews go out filming they always carry a stack of clearance forms with them. Anyone who features in the programmes they make in any identifiable way is asked to sign one. It grants the TV company the right to use the person’s image on TV and stops people suing later down the line when they claim to have been filmed without consent.
I bet that no-one who currently has Qik or similar installed on their phone carries clearance forms with them. It might not be a problem now; let’s face it, unless you’re one of the top users of Qik (Scoble, Arrington etc) only about 10 people are going to bother to watch your video of you feeding the cat or whatever. However, consider a future where live video streaming has taken off bigtime…
Let’s say I film two men fighting in the street with my phone (just because I can). I just use the phone’s video camera, I don’t stream live. When the fight’s over, one of the men comes up to me full of regret and says “That was a supid fight, I don’t want my wife to see this. Please can you delete it?”. I could delete it straight away, no harm done.
However, if I was streaming it live our fist-happy bloke’s wife could theoretically be watching the action unfold as it happens. Even if I’m asked to take the clip down later, the damage is already done. Casting aside the issue of fighting in the street being wrong, that still leaves me open to either legal action or a fierce beating! After all, I just beamed images of someone right around the world without their permission.
As fun as it is to show off the ability to stream live from a phone, it doesn’t come without responsibilities. A day will surely come when the ethics of live video streaming are put to the test in court. I just don’t want it to be me in the dock. So, while I won’t be carrying a bunch of clearance forms everywhere I go I will be very careful who’s around when I click ‘Stream’.
