When can’t you take photos in public?

Watch above: Police searching for man said to be taking photos of young kids. Mark Carcasole reports. 

TORONTO – You are allowed to take pictures of anything, anywhere at any time – as long as you’re in a public place.

But Toronto Police allege a man recently took a photo of a six-year-old girl outside of her home near Danforth Avenue and Coxwell Avenue.

“A man drove up to a home in the area and took a picture of a six-year-old girl in front of her home and drove off,” media relations officer Constable Jennifer Sidhu said.

The man is described by police as having white hair and a white beard. Police said he was driving an older car with the taillights across the back and below the license plate.

The man is not facing any charges – yet – but police do want to talk to him about why he’s taking pictures.

But it’s not illegal to take the photo.

“An individual is allowed to take pictures of anything in a public place, it’s what they do with the pictures where it becomes an issue or a gray area,” Sidhu said. “So police are interested to speaking with this man in regards to why he’s taking pictures in the area.”

Borderline photographs have made headlines before – most notably, when the Reddit forum “/r/creepshots” got widespread attention after an article on Gawker.com exposed one of its users.

The now-banned forum featured posts which linked to surreptitiously taken photos of women in public places – the photos themselves weren’t hosted on Reddit but generally on an image-sharing website, Imgur.com.

That being said, legal analyst Lorne Honickman said the photos – even if legally taken – can be used illegally.

Honickman explained people have a right to deny the use of their image if a person were to try and profit for the photo.

The mother of the young girl whose photo was taken refused to be interviewed.

– With files from Mark Carcasole