Yesterday I had a conversation with the orga of an upcoming hacker event about their code of conduct. I was asking for a small but important addition which I sadly think needs to be in the code of conduct for all hacker events.

I believe this to the extent that after 2024 I will no longer write about or cover events that do not have it.

Stick around, if you deal with hacker events you'll want to read this.

1/n

It's normal at hacker events for there to be a photography policy. Usually one in which photography of identifiable people without consent is prohibited. This is a reasonable thing to have for many reasons.

I have never seen an event that prohibits cameras, or one that prohibits photography of things. I am there with a camera because I photograph things. You see them on Hackaday, and I hope you appreciate them.

Many people other than journalists bring cameras to hacker camps. Pretty much everyone has a phone camera, lots of hackers are photography enthusiasts, and it should not surprise you that camera hackers are a part of our community.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing section of our community that has taken the prohibition of photography of identifiable people without consent, and turned it into a belief that cameras and photography are banned.

This has grown over the years, and has started to manifest itself in harassment of people with cameras.

I think there's an element of virtue signalling at play. "I am a member of the hacker community and I will signal this by taking it into my hands to interpret and police the code of conduct in my own way".

It never used to be a problem, but over the last few years I have found that I am routinely harassed by people because I am carrying a camera. At one camp this became threatening. I was using a tripod after dark to take unfocused pictures of the lights and someone took exception to this. I should not have to resort to my physical size to get someone to back off, after all most women at hacker camps don't have what I have.

It is *NEVER* acceptable to harass or threaten people at hacker camps or anywhere else. If this has become part of our culture then it is something that must be stamped out. Someone is going to do something serious if we continue along this trajectory.

So the thing I asked for in the code of conduct was simple. A specific clause banning harassment of or violence towards photographers. And in this I don't accept the "It's already covered by our be excellent to each other clause", because that plainly isn't working.

It shouldn't be a controversial thing to ask for, if you are someone who thinks it is then perhaps you should take a look in the mirror and ask what you have become.