Q & A

The Question:
how come when you film someone, you need them to sign a consent form...or when you take a picture of someone, you need them to sign a consent form for it to be used...but the paparazzi can take pictures of the celebritys, and they don't need to sign a consent form for it.

why is it illegal to put a video of some random joe on tv, but its not illegal to put a video of a celebrity walking into a club?

Answer:
Actually the reason is because when they are taking pictures they are doing it outside on public property.
You never see paparazzi inside clubs or restaraunts taking pictures and that is because the owner or manager will kick them out.
Odds are if they photo is inside a club or restaraunt it was probably taken by a bystander OR proffessional photographer hired by that celebrity or event promotor

You are allowed to take photos of anything as long as its a public place. If you happen to interview someone then you have to ask their permission to use the footage but if you were to take a video of someone walking across the street then there is nothing they can do because they were walking across a public street which is why its NOT illegal to put a video of some random joe on tv unless you invade his privacy by following him onto private property.

That is why paparazzi don't get in trouble for taking pictures of people outside.

Ever watch "Cops" if you were to compare an old episode with a newer one you would see that they used to follow people into houses and onto property.
What happened is they would get sued alot for violating a persons privacy, so they just told the camera crew to try and stay on public property.
thats why the show started to suck in recent years which lead to its cancellation.