Dashcams in Scandinavia

[dino]

Being relatively new into this world of dashcams I have been trying to look into the legal aspects. It seems to vary quite a lot depending on what nation you're thinking of. No EU-regulation here, obviously!

In Sweden where I live it's clear from a recently new law regarding surveillance cameras that you need a permit to film using fixed cameras into public places where people can get identified, however there is nothing at all saying you can't take pictures or shoot film from inside your car in itself, as long the camera is manoeuvred from place. A hand held camera doing the same thing as a dashcam is fine, mounting a camera to a tripod and place it standing in the back seat, too (no matter how impractical that may be). But what if you're tired of your tripod falling over and you decide to tape it down with that roll of ducktape, is it then considered "fixed"? Obviously it's down to whether your dashcam is seen fixed or not. I have found some people claiming suction cups legally should make cameras seen fixed but I honestly doubt that would hold in court. Isn't that exactly with those suckers are supposed NOT to do? What about sticky tape then, or velcro? Or a chewing gum???
My guess; as long you can remove the camera using an easy grip, it's not fixed. Whether I decide to do that or not when I leave my car, that's up to my discretion.

It's clear though, as there is no one there to operate the camera, the use of dashcam parking mode definitely needs a permit.

It is apparent that our laws, as usually, isn't up to speed with the development of technology. So far there hasn't been any court case regarding the legal aspects of dashcams, and until then it's a grey zone and everybody's guess.

Does anyone know the legal status in the rest of Scandinavia?

 

[Finnman]

In Finland it is allowed to take pictures and record video in public places. You are also allowed to record at your own private property. However you are not allowed to record what happens inside neighbors home (by recording through window) and also recording neighbors yard is prohibited if persons can be identified. There has been cases of recording sunbathing neighbors and that is not allowed for example.

Generally you are not allowed to record public places if you personally are somewhere else at the same time. This applies to recording voices also. That said, it is quite questionable to use motion detection to trigger recording at public parking for example. On the other hand, person who thinks that she/he is being recorded, should prove it - existence of camera doesn't tell it. In practice problems arise after one publishes recordings that are subject to harm person who is being recorded. For example if car in front of me does something illegal, should I smudge the plate before publishing? That's something I'm unsure about, because car plate doesn't tell who was the driver although it usually is the owner.

My view is that I don't really care about legal aspect of recording itself, but I'm very careful when I'm about to publish any footage. I've not heard that it matters whether the cam is fixed or not.