Photography Ban in Public Places

[dsullivan]

Obviously this is your fight in the UK - not mine.

But can I ask a question?

I see on the link that this is a e-petition to the government on a topic of obvious interest to all of us here.

But I did not see any link to the proposed legislation that the petition opposes; just a general statement that "there are a number of proposals to restrict...."

Did I miss something?

Possibly not, this could just be someone who heard from a friend of a friend or wants people to agree with his rant.

That's not to say some places do seem to be saying "If you have a 'pro' camera" you need a permit" such as The London Eye or some council run winter festival (anyone who reads Amateur Photographer should be familiar with this story) but that's not legislation.

[edit]
Here's the story on the London Eye
London Eye Restrictions

[Andy K]

I remember reading a while back that Red Ken was planning to put up signs warning parents to watch out for photographers in London's parks. Don't know what happened to that proposal though.

[firecracker]

Well, this is clearly a sign of the rise of new feudalism and privatization of public space.

Tokyo seems pretty similar to London in this matter; some people with or without cameras have experienced being detained by police for no reasons/charges for a couple of weeks. Protest is another thing that when you have 150 protesters with a permit, you get confronted by twice as many riot police and you get silenced by the end of the day.

There's usually no big media coverage, so the rest of the country will never learn what's actually going on. Now the "enermy is you" slogan is going around everwhere and it's just amazing to see where we've gotten.

[firecracker]

There have been quite a few rumblings about restrictions being placed on photographers with either pedophilia or terrorism being used as an excuse (depending on which way the wind was blowing at the time).

It seems a trifle ironic that photography by the public should be under fire when there's such a proliferation of CCTV cameras for surveillance of the public.

Isn't this what we regard as a "police state"? And that has been and can be pretty brutal and violent.

[catem]

"Isn't this what we regard as a 'police state' ? And that has been and can be pretty brutal and violent."

It's interesting what's going on in my area at the moment, S/ SW.London. 'South/ South West London' btw covers the whole gamut of class and race from the very very rich to the very very poor, within a stone's throw (I live in neither of these extremes ).

There have been suggestions recently to use CCTV surveillance which goes 'beneath' peoples' clothes, NOT showing any private bits, you understand, but being able to locate guns, bombs etc. Lots of distaste about it. I didn't like the idea either.

Over the past fortnight, shockingly, three teenagers (early-mid teens) have been shot dead in particular parts of S.London. One of them about a mile away from where I live. This is very worrying and NOT usual, though it may be commonplace in parts of the world. Suddenly everyone seems to think maybe the special surveillance may not such a bad thing after all.....Who knows, that kind of thing might spread to 'us'...

A police state is about control over protection. Believe me I'm certainly interested in civil liberties but it seems to me surveillance in this country is solely about protection (and it has resulted in many more criminals being correctly convicted, i.e. it has not only helped catch the guilty but helps pretect the innocent from false accusation). We may not like being observed wherever we go - I don't, but I feel it's ultimately for good reasons.

As for the idea of some kind of 'license' or ID for photographers, I agree - let's get the facts before we jump to conclusions....

[BarryWilkinson]

I'm afraid Cate that this government only comes out with 'vague' statements to see what response they get. They then make a decision, or at least Blair does, and will implement it regardless.

I'm impressed with the French attitude to government. If they don't like a law they will demonstrate loudly and if necessary will riot until its scrapped. British people could learn a lot from them.

Barry

[catem]

I'm impressed with the French attitude to government. If they don't like a law they will demonstrate loudly and if necessary will riot until its scrapped. British people could learn a lot from them.

Barry

We got rid of the Poll Tax.

[Andy K]

We got rid of the Poll Tax.

No we didn't. They just renamed it to Council Tax.

[BarryWilkinson]

We got rid of the Poll Tax.

Exactly Cate, a small riot was needed to stop it. Unfortunately it seems this is the only way to make anyone listen here.

Barry

[catem]

No we didn't. They just renamed it to Council Tax.

The Council Tax is based it on property bands, like the old Rates system, thus much fairer than the original Poll Tax.