Is it illegal to take a picture of someone else's car?

J

JoshH

Member
Is it illegal to take a picture of someone else's car?
I was in a parking lot today and I realized that there was a decked out ECLIPSE parked next to me. (modified to look like the one from fast and the furious) And I pulled out my camera and took a picture.
And about 3 seconds later some guy comes running out of the store, and tells me that he's going to call the cops on me, and starts making violent threats. WTF
Is it illegal to snap a picture of someone's car?
 
G

Goodfella

New member
Not if nobody is in it, don't take a picture of the license plate though, one picture is not illegal, if you're snapping the car from back to front, below the car,.. then it might be suspicious but still i don't think it would be illegal.Under the hood would be illegal, since it doesn't belong to you and is considered trespassing
 
S

SteveK

Member
If a car is parked in a public area, there's no problem with you taking a photograph of it. There's no inherent right of privacy in an automobile in public view.

Now, if you attempted to get inside the car, or open the hood, that's a trespass...but you didn't do that.
 
B

BenLinus

New member
It's not illegal to take pictures of a car (or anything else) left in a public place. As long as you weren't trespassing on the lot and the lot is open to the public you did nothing wrong.

It IS illegal to make violent threats toward someone for taking pictures legally in a public place though. That's called "assault". You could have called the cops on HIM for threatening you and showing intent to carry out the threats since he was running out of the store toward you and threating violence.

Fwiw I'll never understand why certain people do everything they can to make their cars stand out but then get pissed when people want to look at them. Don't paint a car bright green if you don't want it to be noticed by everyone with functioning eyesight.

That D-bag was just looking for a fight and the cops would have been on YOUR side if either of you would have called them.
 
P

pedro7of9

Member
the facts are
1 its legal if car is parked in public area..[like the one you discribe]
2 you can take picture of licence plate [unlike previous answer] again public,,info in public area
3 99 44/100 % of guys/gals love to have people faun over their cars and take pictures
4 if guy called cops [and they came ,which i doubt] unless you were stalking or harrassing the guy there is nothing there...guy was a nut and i learned not to argue with crazy people..[u can't win]..
5 my advice..say sorry..get in car drive away..say to yourself,,"what a A hole"
 
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