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25 July 2016
DAMMAM: Taking images on mobile phone cameras has become an important and widely accepted method of monitoring the performance of employees and officials in both the government and private sectors.
However, while mobile videos published on social media are not always negative in nature, many people still believe that taking photos or videos of employees or officials at their workplace without their consent is a violation of their privacy.
Ahmed Al-Saadi, a human development consultant, said that filming employees is a negative thing, even if it aims to motivate the employees, especially since there are other ways to encourage them such as a letter of thanks to their manager, for example.
He also noted that filming people without permission is punishable as per the Anti-Cybercrime Law.
Commenting on the issue, lawyer Abdulaziz Al-Jawffan said Saudi law stipulates the inadmissibility of filming any member of the community without permission, but added that photographing civil servants at their workplace is not a violation of their individual privacy.
Al-Jawffan said that nitpicking and focusing on mistakes is a form of unacceptable behavior, as "we all need to maintain a sense of fairness while criticizing employees and officials without letting our negative bias get in the way."
As for taking photos in public places, he said that the national laws sometimes provide for the possibility of filming in public places, government departments and public institutions, unless this is clearly precluded by law in that specific place, or if these sites are among locations where filming is prohibited as a matter of normalcy.
DAMMAM: Taking images on mobile phone cameras has become an important and widely accepted method of monitoring the performance of employees and officials in both the government and private sectors.
However, while mobile videos published on social media are not always negative in nature, many people still believe that taking photos or videos of employees or officials at their workplace without their consent is a violation of their privacy.
Ahmed Al-Saadi, a human development consultant, said that filming employees is a negative thing, even if it aims to motivate the employees, especially since there are other ways to encourage them such as a letter of thanks to their manager, for example.
He also noted that filming people without permission is punishable as per the Anti-Cybercrime Law.
Commenting on the issue, lawyer Abdulaziz Al-Jawffan said Saudi law stipulates the inadmissibility of filming any member of the community without permission, but added that photographing civil servants at their workplace is not a violation of their individual privacy.
Al-Jawffan said that nitpicking and focusing on mistakes is a form of unacceptable behavior, as "we all need to maintain a sense of fairness while criticizing employees and officials without letting our negative bias get in the way."
As for taking photos in public places, he said that the national laws sometimes provide for the possibility of filming in public places, government departments and public institutions, unless this is clearly precluded by law in that specific place, or if these sites are among locations where filming is prohibited as a matter of normalcy.
© Arab News 2016
