TilFriday: Taking Photos Of The Eiffel Tower At Night Is Illegal

So we made it through the week! Amazing, right?

Another weekend to look forward to. Another 2 days to spend for our family, friends, or if you're that type - for yourself. But before we head towards our weekly break from school and work, let's ask ourselves this question: What did we learn today? Or how about yesterday or the day before? Uhmmm... this week?

There has to be something you didn't know before that you do know now.

Of course there is! That is why aside from my Things In Our Stuff series, I'm launching another one and calling it #tilFriday!

Why #tilFriday? Well Monday is for blues and Tuesday is for booze. Of course, Thursday is for throwbacks and Wednesday is for wine. But those are Instagram tags and we are in steemit and here, I'm dedicating my Fridays to TILs or (Today I Learned).

This series will be a collection of some new knowledge that I learned, new interesting information I acquired, or anything that fed and satisfied my curiosity. It can be about science, technology, numbers, trivias, hacks, history, or things that pertains to life in general that I want to share with you. You may know them already, but I'm sharing them anyway for those people who are not as informed as you.

So far the first in this series, I will share to you something that baffled me when I found it out this morning:

Today I learned that taking photos of the Eiffel Tower at night is illegal.

Let me repeat that for you: Taking photos of the Eiffel Tower at night is illegal.

If you've been there, you probably know it already but for someone like me who are not even dreaming of going to Paris, this is a shocking revelation. Why can't you take photos of that beautiful tower at night? Sure you can point and shoot at it all you want and take selfies all day but when the night comes and the tower is dazzling with lights you may need to ask for permission, pay rights, and give proper credit to the artist especially if you're going to use the photos commercially.

But why?

Blame it on a copyright law and its 20,000 light bulbs!

The Eiffel Tower is an artistic creation protected by European copyright laws for the lifespan of the work’s legal creator—plus 70 years. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, its creator died in 1923 and in 1993, the tower became a public domain. While the tower is no longer under any copyright, the lights installed by Pierre Bideua in 1985 and its choreographed light show are still protected under the law.

_{image from pixabay}

That is why you can take unlimited photos of the tower all day, but you can't do so during the night. Still can't believe it? Here is something from SETE, the company behind the tower's operation:

_{screengrabbed from La Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE)}

Don't fret just yet, you still can take grammable selfies at night for personal purposes without asking for permission. But if you are too cautious, giving the proper credit to the artist by adding "SETE - Illuminations Pierre Bideau" to your posts should be enough to save you from any trouble.

So next time you're in Paris, take thousand photos of the Eiffel Tower during the day, but when the night comes and tower is illuminated, it's probably better to turn your camera off and just enjoy the show.

That's all for now. Til next Friday.

Merci.

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Learn something new everyday! Follow Random Collective by @st3llar.

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