(from boingboing)
What the hell is going on with security guards cracking down on photography in this country? I'm reading stuff like this on an increasingly regular basis, and it's getting a bit worrying.
UPDATE: Sean has linked to a petition at the Downing Street website in the commments below. Well worth putting one's name to that, I think.
In answer to Tim's question, I believe 'street photography' is when one makes pinhole cameras out of used crack vials, then sells the resulting happy snaps to the Observer magazine. Hope this helps, Tim.
7 comments:
'Street photography'? Is that like street theatre?
I would hazard a guess that security guards don't have nearly enough excitement in their lives, so they have to improvise.
Security guard = frustrated policeman on power trip...
It's probably fuelled by everyone's secret fear they are doing their jobs entirely wrong and are going to get caught out one day.
The important thing is making sure everyone knows that it is NOT illegal to photograph people in public. Much in the same way as it is not illegal to look at people in public.
There's a petition on the Downing Street website about this, asking the government to clarify the law regarding photography in public places (mainly for the benefit of security guards and the police, I think). There are basic liberties at stake here. Apart from anything else, it's absurd to ban photography given the amount of CCTV there is all over the place.
*makes twatty pseudo-intellectual comment about the Panopticon*
Anything can be illegal these days - all you have to do is give someone an ASBO for doing something first, and then if they break it, that activity becomes illegal by default. Another great legacy from the Blair era.
Frankly, it all makes me wonder when you're all going to have to start wearing penny-farthing badges with your numbers on in the UK.
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