February 26, 2008...9:03 pm
Photographers Under Attack!
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TAKE PHOTOS EVERY DAY.
WHAT IF ONE OF THEM SEEMS ODD?
Terrorists use surveillance to help plan attacks, taking photos and making notes about security measures like the location of CCTV cameras. If you see someone doing that, we need to know. Let experienced officers decide what action to take.
The Metropolitan Police website
Well that was the strap line on the back cover of the London paper today and I predict a lot of stories coming out of it about photographers just trying to enjoy their hobbies, but now being constantly stopped by police, especially in a tourist hotspot like London.
Type in CCTV on Flickr (15,439 results) and see how many images you get or try the same on an image search Google (3,130,000 results) hmmm…
I doubt very much terrorists are going to be using Nikon D3 or Canon MkIII ds to do this kind of target research but more likely to use an average Joe tourist type of camera, the problem is the non-photographing public have no way of knowing one from the other and G9 users, best take care as it is such a discrete styled camera, even their add shows a compact camera as well as mobile phones, however with the mobile phone its how many they have that makes them suspicious, not the phone itself.
My personal feelings on this is that it makes me feel like a second rate citizen, like I have been accused of doing something wrong when I haven’t and my human rights have been infringed, heck I have even photographed CCTV cameras in the past, for aesthetics and as a statement about the times we live in and issues we face.
Check out the resources for the photographer in the sidebar and download and print the UK Photographers Rights PDF
7 Comments
February 27, 2008 at 1:23 am
My view is that as CCTV are capturing images of us without our consent then they’re fair game for us to take shots of them… which I shall continue to do, as I have been for some time.
And if I get stopped/searched/questioned by the police, that’s exactly what I shall say.
Its not just photographers that are being turned into second-rate citizens. It seems anyone who isn’t part of the Establishment is also.
March 7, 2008 at 2:48 pm
There is another take on it here
http://www.freeinfidel.com/2008/02/27/paranoia/
March 12, 2008 at 1:15 pm
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March 12, 2008 at 1:30 pm
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March 20, 2008 at 5:24 pm
[...] press photographers and amateur photographers are becoming targeted more and more. recently the Met launched an add campaign that makes photographers look like a terrorist suspect. On a personal level I am getting stopped more and more even though I have a UK Press Card [...]
March 22, 2008 at 2:55 pm
[...] on photographers’ anti-terror fears Jump to Comments Three weeks ago I reported that Photographers were under attack and also found a video of a film maker getting grief in London and the NUJ calling for ‘Press [...]
March 27, 2008 at 12:26 am
[...] photographers and amateur photographers are becoming targeted more and more. recently the Met launched an add campaign that makes photographers look like a terrorist suspect. On a personal level I am getting stopped more and more even though I have a UK Press Card [...]
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