Ban on photography in schools not due to GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation does not prohibit photography

In principle, it is possible for the owners of the house rights of kindergartens and schools to impose a ban on photography. However, these bans are not part of the GDPR. By law, data protection law does not apply to private data processing. In the GDPR, Article 2(2)(c), the so-called "budgetary exception", states precisely:

This regulation shall not apply to the processing of personal data by natural persons for the sole purpose of carrying out activities which are strictly personal or family related.

This means that family members can, of course, take photos of their children in view of the basic data protection regulation. However, it is important to note whether the school has imposed a ban on photography for other reasons. However, these bans are not a consequence of the GDPR.

The problem is the uncontrolled transfer to third parties

The basic data protection regulation only comes into effect again when the exclusively private area is left. That is, when the pictures taken are published on the Internet, e.g. via social media channels.

In terms of data protection law, the conditions under Article 6 of the GDPR must be respected. The interests of children must, of course, be considered separately and must be given special protection.

The most common problem is uploading pictures that are actually private on social media channels like Facebook. Especially if an unlimited group of people can access the uploaded pictures. With regard to Facebook, this would be the case if pictures were uploaded to the Facebook timeline as public post without any further settings.

However, if pictures are published in groups protected by user name and password or only accessible to a selected group of people, one is still within the budget exception.