Betænkning 601 om privatlivets fred - straffelovsrådet 1971 - Krim

Photography Act, it being deemed more expedient
to regulate photographing in connection
with other questions relating to the
right of peace and privacy.
In addition to the special legal provisions,
a general unwritten rule on the protection
of the right of privacy and the integrity of
personality is assumed to apply in Danish
law. This matter is the subject of Chapter
IV. It is stressed that the shortcoming of the
system in force is the slender possibilities of
reaction that exist in cases where the courts
characterise a particular act as unlawful on
the basis of the general principle of law. It
is possible to prevent the act from being
continued; however, where the violation has
already taken place, the injured person has
typically no chance of obtaining compensatory
damages. That Chapter shall be
viewed in connection with Chapter IX, recommending
a general rule of protection in
the form of compensatory damages to the
injured person.
Chapter VII examines and estimates the
rules governing the ethics of journalism.
The Criminal Law Council points out the
considerable advantages afforded by protection
of the right of privacy through ethical
rules of journalism, as compared with a
legal regulation. On the other hand, it should
be recognised that the Danish system of
press ethics, in its present form, is subject to
a number of specified defects, which tend to
diminish its importance. It is held that a
development of the system of press ethics
would reduce the need for applying the general
legal provisions in relation to the press.
The proposal of the Criminal Law Council
concerning the future rules of protection
are found in Chapters VIII and IX.
Chapter VIII deals with the penal aspects
of the problem. In view, i.a., of the requirements
that must be made in regard to a
precise wording of penal clauses, it has not
been considered feasible to draw up a more
general principle on the protection of the
right of privacy sanctioned through punishment;
the penal legislation in this field must
continue to take the form of a number of
provisions delimiting the punishable behaviour
in relation to the individual possibilities
of violation.
By reason of the wide lawful applications
of components forming part of the so-called
spy-equipment, the Criminal Law Council
does not find a general prohibition of such
equipment practicable; the penal clauses
should be directed against the unauthorised
use of such devices and the utilisation of data
provided in that way, and not against the
importation, production or sale of the devices.
Aside from the updating of the penal provisions
already in force with a view to clarifying
their scope and from the increase of
the ranges of penalties, etc., the Criminal
Law Council recommends the enaction of
new penal provisions protecting against
tapping and spying (photographing) and
against the utilisation by others of the data
resulting from the unlawful activity. .
The main points of the proposed new
penal provisions are:
(1) the proposal of a new penal provision
on the tapping or recording of a conversation
between others by means of a
hidden device;
(2) the proposal of a new penal provision
on photographing, without their permission,
of persons being in an area to
which there is no free access, and on
the spying on such persons by means of
field-glasses or the like;
(3) the proposal of a penal provision concerning
the passing on of data and pictures
that goes further than the rules in
force, notably by including the passing
on of pictures of another person in
circumstances which he can obviously
expect not to be disclosed publicly. The
provision is so drawn up as to protect
also against offensive particulars and
pictures relating to deceased persons;
(4) the proposal of extending the penal provisions
so as to include also any person
who, without being a party to the
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