Having read this story in the news - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15236758 - about a man who was questioned by the Police, after taking photos in a shopping centre, I wanted to try it out for myself, and see what reaction I could get...
So, I went to Chapelfield (a large shopping centre in Norwich, where I live) with my Nikon D3000, and starting taking pictures. Sure enough, after a while, a Chapelfield security guard came up and to me and asked me to stop taking photographs. (He was actually pretty friendly and polite to me, when we were talking, even though I was trying to argue the point with him!)
I was confused, though, about the grounds on which he was telling me not to take pictures. At first I was told that it was the shopping centre's policy not to allow photography inside; but later on in our discussion, I was told that the reason I was not allowed to take photos was because I'd be infringing copyright laws.
Apparently, all the logos and displays in the shop front are copyrighted, and therefore not allowed to be photographed without permission from that shop, which I must admit I find a little strange - by that logic, if I take a photo of my friend who's wearing an Adidas t-shirt, I have to get permission from Adidas first. Is that really so?!
Weird.
Anyway, here's a picture of people looking a bit blurry on the escalator in Chapelfield.
i've been told off for taking photos in a shopping centre too! in westfield in derby, i was taking photos of some cupcakes (no people/children/logos) and a big security guard told me to stop and to delete all of the pictures from my camera!!! no idea why!
@smevvy
This guy told me he wouldn't make me delete all the pictures (which is lucky, as it saved me having to refuse to delete them!) but he said that if I had been at Castle Mall (the other big shopping centre in the city) they would've made me delete the shots, as that is their policy. :/
Also, the general reason for 'no photos' in these places is to 'protect the privacy of shoppers'. If they want their privacy protected, they shouldn't go out in public...
This guy told me he wouldn't make me delete all the pictures (which is lucky, as it saved me having to refuse to delete them!) but he said that if I had been at Castle Mall (the other big shopping centre in the city) they would've made me delete the shots, as that is their policy. :/
Re "privacy of shoppers" - I think you'd be hard pushed to identify anyone in this photograph anyway.