Pyraegea takes place on the water, at anchor in remote locations that are hard for outsiders to reach and where we are difficult to see from land or from passing traffic. People join with the understanding that what happens in these places stays within the community. This gives every participant a reasonable expectation of privacy, whether they are clothed or not, on deck, on the beach or in the water.
Choosing a remote anchorage is a deliberate act of creating private space. Anyone who photographs, films, or records here is entering that space, and the people in it have not agreed to be seen by a wider audience.
Legal Framework
Privacy is not only a community norm. It is also protected by law:
European Union: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) treats photos and video of identifiable people as personal data. Processing and publishing them generally requires a lawful basis, in practice the person's consent. Privacy and data protection are also fundamental rights under Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Greece: The Greek Civil Code protects personality rights, which include a person's image and private life. Publishing an image of someone without their consent can lead to civil liability, and secretly recording people in a private setting can be a criminal offence.
Nudity and intimate images: Sharing nude or intimate images of someone without their consent is known as non-consensual intimate imagery (also called image-based sexual abuse). It is a criminal offence in many countries. Within the EU, a directive on combating violence against women (Directive (EU) 2024/1385) requires member states to criminalize it. Some countries and many platforms go further and restrict nudity in shared content altogether, even with consent.
Everyone who takes or shares images at Pyraegea is personally responsible for complying with the law, in addition to the community rules below. This section is a general summary and not legal advice.
Photo Consent
The baseline is that people have their privacy. Sharing or publishing photos is not the default. The process is meant to be tedious and rigorous, so don't expect sharing to be easy.
Always ask before:
Taking someone's photo
Posting photos online
Tagging people
Sharing location information
Any type of sharing needs consent first
Beyond the obvious public posting, every form of sharing requires consent from the people in the photo or video first, including:
Sharing with the people who are in the photo
Sharing within your boat camp
Sharing within the community
Sharing within closed WhatsApp groups (or any other private group chat)
"It's only a private group" or "they're in the photo anyway" is not consent.
How to ask for photo consent
Never send the photo to ask for consent. Sending it is already sharing it, and if several people are in it, each of them receives it without the others having agreed.
Ask without the image. Ask in person or in a text-only message. Describe the photo, who is in it, and exactly where you want to share it.
Ask everyone in the photo separately. One person's yes never covers another, and don't use one person's yes to pressure the rest.
Agree on how to review it. Showing the photo is sharing it, so first agree with everyone in it who sees it first (for example the person in the most vulnerable position), who receives it, and how it is sent.
Make it easy to say no. Don't pressure, and don't ask again after a no.
Only a clear yes counts. If you are unsure, don't share.
Ask again if the plan changes. A yes for a boat camp group doesn't cover a public post. If someone withdraws consent, delete the photo wherever you shared it.
Example: "I took a photo of you dancing on the foredeck yesterday. Are you okay with me sharing it in the community WhatsApp group? No problem if not."
Want to publish photos? Organise a dedicated photoshoot
If you want photos to share or publish, don't rely on candid shots. Organise a dedicated photoshoot where everyone taking part knows in advance that the photos from that shoot will be used for publishing, and where they are published. This is especially useful for workshop organisers who need promo material.
Announce the purpose and the channels before the shoot starts
Only photograph people who have agreed to take part, and let them leave at any time
Photos taken outside the shoot are not covered by it
Respect:
People who don't want to be photographed
Requests to delete photos
Privacy in sensitive moments
Cultural or personal reasons for declining
Blurring or masking people does not evade consent:
People can be identified in many ways beyond their face; by their body, tattoos, clothing, boat, or the location itself. If someone hasn't consented to being in a photo or video, obscuring their face and or body doesn't make it okay to post.
Drone and Aerial Footage
Drones deserve special attention because of their range and the involuntary nature of aerial capture.
Consent applies regardless of nudity. The idea of a "non-nude drone hour" — where drones fly freely as long as people are clothed — was explicitly discussed and rejected by the Pyraegea community. Some participants are not comfortable being filmed or photographed regardless of their state of dress. A person being filmed without their knowledge while sunbathing in a swimsuit is just as much a consent issue as any other unsolicited capture.
Drone operators must:
Seek consent from all people who will be in frame before flying — the same standard as any other photography
Not assume that being clothed means someone is comfortable being recorded
Respect requests not to fly over specific areas or boats
Be especially mindful around anchorages where people have limited ability to move away from an unwanted camera
The community norm is that footage requires consent, full stop. If you're unsure whether someone wants to be filmed, ask.
Social Media Guidelines
Be mindful:
Don't share others' personal information
Respect people's privacy
Consider the impact of your posts
Follow "what happens at Pyraegea..." etiquette
Don't post compromising photos of others
With the rise of AI, even innocent photos might end up being used in ways you don't expect — think twice before you post.