“Gaffer” photos and upskirting soon a criminal offense

The Federal Cabinet today approved the draft law on the improvement of the protection of privacy in image recordings, presented by the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Christine Lambrecht, by amending Section 201a of the Criminal Code Decided.

Protection against exposing images of the deceased

Pursuant to Section 201a Para. 1 No. 3 of the Criminal Code is to be punished with a custodial sentence of up to two years or a fine in future, who manufactures or transmits without authorisation an image that displays a deceased person in a grossly offensive manner. The post-mortem protection of personality, which goes beyond the death of a person and is implemented under civil law, for example by means of injunction claims by the relatives, has not yet been criminally protected here. This gap is filled by the draft law agreed in the coalition agreement. Approval by the Federal Council is not necessary.

Protecting the intimacy from secret recordings

The Draft Law of the Federal Government also provides that, in future, the production and transmission of an image of another person’s genitals, buttocks, breastors or underwear covering those parts of the body is punishable if that person( for example, the clothing or a towel) are protected against sight.

According to the current legal situation, data subjects can defend themselves against secret image rye and demand deletion, for example. In addition, “upskirting” can be punished as an administrative offence.

However, this behaviour has not usually been punishable.

The entire draft law can be found here.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.