Miscellaneous desk
< December 22	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 23

Earliest places in the world to prohibit photography

Is it known what were among the earliest (as in, chronologically first) places in the world to have a policy of prohibiting recording devices (notably cameras and the like)? If so or if not, what were the reasons behind implementing such a policy? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 00:20, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Are you aware of any country currently that prohibits photography? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:32, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Not countries, but certainly regions. RNealK (talk) 03:53, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This link here: [1] doesn't answer the question as to which place was the first to legally prohibit photography, but it does list some rationales why a place would. It basically boils down to two reasons 1) Security, which is to say that places where photographs could be used to study and breach secure locations (military installations, for example) and 2) copyright (museums and theaters hold a monopoly on display of the works they display, and prevent photography to maintain that monopoly). There are also some places of worship that, for theological or dogmatic reasons, ask that you not photograph while inside. --Jayron32 04:01, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

4) (Counting religious reasons as #3): Flash photography is often restricted because of it's tendency to damage eyesight and cause annoyance. Of course, this is most often done at the venue, but I suppose there might be a law somewhere stating that flash photography is only allowed with permission of those in range.

5) Personal privacy reasons. This includes prohibiting upskirt pics and celebrity stalking. StuRat (talk) 09:41, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)There are countries that restrict photography, certainly. we have a (mostly anglocentric) article Photography and the law, but this does not really go into the history of such laws. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:04, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Why is everyone caught up on the country thing? The OP never mentioned countries! Dismas|^(talk) 04:57, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Norwegian Lov om forsvarshemmeligheter (Law regarding military secrets) from 18th August 1914 states in §3 that's it illegal without prior permission to "create, multiply or publish maps, map sketches, sketches, photographs or descriptions" of military installations or military sensitive areas. Not sure if that is the first though. WegianWarrior (talk) 08:32, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Restricting in particular locations is not the same thing as a blanket prohibition. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:46, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OP never said anything about countries or blanket prohibitions. OP said "places" and "policy". And undtil quite recently, most military installations in Norway had a blanked ban on the use of cameras - you had to apply for permission just to keep one in your quarters. WegianWarrior (talk) 11:55, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If you're talking specific locations, such as military installations, then half of the OP's question has already been answered, and the reason is pretty obvious anyway. As to which specific ones were first, that could be a challenge to research. Has the OP done any research on it? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:48, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My guess would be various Islamic places, where prohibitions on images that long pre-dated the invention of the camera were simply interpreted as also applying to cameras. --Carnildo (talk) 03:47, 24 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have heard (annecdotally) that some non-industrialized cultures feel (or used to feel) that photographs "capture souls", and so banned and/or destroyed any cameras in their territory. Can anyone support this with reliable sources? F6697^{FORMERLY 66.97.209.215}_TALK 11:17, 25 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's a story that's been around for a long time. It was gently lampooned in Crocodile Dundee when the American woman goes to take a picture of an aboriginal Australian man. He says, "You can't take my picture." Then she says, kind of condescendingly, "Oh, because it will take part of your soul, right?" And he says, "No, it's because you've got the lens cap on." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:33, 25 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There are a bunch of them [2] here. Not sure which are the earliest though. Some restrictions may apply (talk) 15:10, 25 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OrBat generation software

Can you possibly direct me to the software that generates the military unit Tables of Organization and Equipment or Orders of battle (OrBats) that seem to be universal in wikipedia to diagram military unites, and are made by user/editors like "noclador"? 75.145.84.237 (talk) 16:04, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You're much likelier to get a good quick answer to this at the computer desk, rather than the miscellaneous desk. μηδείς (talk) 04:07, 24 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, someone at Wikipedia:Wikiproject Military History should be able to help out. Newyorkbrad (talk) 00:31, 25 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]