Man refuses to delete video of stranger, she takes picture of him as revenge. AITA?
Technically, you can take videos of anyone in public without needing legal permission. However, that doesn't mean everyone is going to be happy about it.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a man asked if he was wrong for refusing to delete a video he took at the local reservoir. He wrote:
"AITA for refusing to delete a video taken in public?"
This weekend, my gf and I were walking at the local reservoir, when down by the water we see a lady going past with HUNDREDS of ducks following her. I am not exaggerating at all - I'd say there were at least 200-300 birds if not more, quacking and splashing and climbing all over each other trying to get closer to the food she was tossing.
It was a hell of a scene, so I started recording it, because frankly I'd never seen anything quite like it before. I'd say the path where we were was about 30 or 40 feet back from the water, so it was from a pretty respectable distance, not getting up in her face or anything. For a good minute or two I'm just filming all these ducks going crazy.
Well, the lady looks up and sees me, and says "Are you recording?" I tell her "yeah I'm recording it, there are like 300 ducks back there!" So she yells "I don't want to be in the picture! Delete that video! I didn't give you permission!" I tell her no, I'm not deleting it. We're out in public, I don't need permission to take pictures of things.
I'm not even taking a video of you, you just happened to be in it walking past. She says "Well then how about if I take a picture of you?" and pulls out her phone. I tell her "I don't care, go ahead. What are you going to do, frame it?" So she's just standing there taking pictures of us until finally we all walk away pissed off.
So AITA? I guess this lady thought I was being rude, but I didn't see anything wrong with what I was doing. Especially since it wasn't even her I was really taking the video of.
People shared their honest takes.
Stray2617 wrote:
YTA. It might be legal, but if someone doesn't want to be recorded, you should respect that.
InterestingPrint9855 wrote:
I agree. We don't know the person's background. Maybe they are in witness protection, or don't want to be seen online by an ab*sive stalker ex. Just saying you don't want to be filmed is not grounds for having footage deleted though. Public area expect you may be.
jentlyused wrote:
YTA don’t understand why people just can’t be out doing their thing without possibly being recorded. She told you she didn’t want to be, you should be respectful of that. You could just start a new video filming only the ducks.
BusinessGap9207 wrote:
YTA - people can go to the park without being filmed. You have no idea why she didn’t want to be filmed - and it’s none of your business.
OP is definitely TA here.