"New laws set to be passed in England and Canada would make it illegal to use bad language or take photographs of police officers, moving us further away from the idea of police as public servants and more towards the notion of cops assuming God-like status. According to the British Journal of Photography, the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, which is set to become law on February 16, “allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.” The punishment for this offense is imprisonment for up to ten years and a fine. However, even before the passage of the legislation, police in Britain have already been harassing and arresting fully accredited press photographers merely for taking pictures of them at rallies and protests." - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

The naive will never get it so what shall we, the few who do, do? - Internet Strategist

This is very bad for democracy! - Jeff P. Henderson

One would assume it would cover Video as well, which would make the Rodney King and Oscar Grant tapes terrorist acts. - david koblas

This is terrible, if only I had an MP to complain to (mine's Stephen Harper...). - Kenton

The situation in the U.S. is already far worse than most realize. I personally know of ridiculous incidents including a man walking alone to the grocery store (in the town he lives in) with an empty backpack (to carry his groceries home in) being threatened with arrest and a woman (over 50, under 5'3" and under 140 pounds) being dragged to the ground by three police officers and handcuffed because "walking (between a convenience store and the strip mall next door to it) is not permitted" in that town. - Internet Strategist

More examples 1) Highway Patrol tried to put the OWNER of a truck's wife out on the highway because the law prohibits anyone riding in a truck without some particular form. - Internet Strategist

Another 2) Woman commuting to her job on a major highway stopped. Police claim they found something in her vehicle, never charged her with anything and kept it. She was still trying to get it back (at great expense) when I last heard. This happens all the time because police can seize and auction property without proving or even charging you with a crime. - Internet Strategist

3) I was waiting at a tiny truck stop for someone who was running late. Even though I bought a meal, and then dessert and was talking to people who knew me the young girl who worked there wanted to call the police because I had "been there too long". Fortunately for me the older woman who worked there came and asked me why I was still there and then talked her out of calling. Are they teaching young people to call police any time someone they don't know is in a business "too long"? - Internet Strategist

These five examples all happened in Texas but in five different cities involving different law enforcement agencies. Surely others have heard about similar issues? - Internet Strategist

Ridiculous, in especially in regards to journalism & excessive police of which occurs frequently - The Real sofarsoShawn

We have to stand up to this rubbish before it goes too far. Maybe photographers should have a rally and just photograph every policemen along the way. They cant imprison every photographer in Britain. - Pete Gilbert

@Pete - unfortunately, "we", are too often in the minority. Most do not see this in the greater context of censorship / free-speech (freedom in general) and is not something that really resonates with them. - JA Castillo

UK government a bunch of assholes..... - Rob Sellen :o)

you *must* be joking. - MikeAmundsen

Hilarious, I'll have to look into this! - Toby Graham

So, lets get this straight. Even the BBC can't use a pic of a policeman in thier stories??????? - Roberto Bonini

That's crappy. - Justin Yost

WTF? They have to go and ruin things for everyone. "Yay" for the UK Government indeed. :( - Tyson Key

So if you're protesting, are harassed, and photog the cops, you're a terrorist? When did "protect & serve" turn into "know your place, or else"? - Pete D

I used to be an anglophile, but the way things are going, the closest I'll come to the UK is watching Top Gear on BBC America. Too bad. - Steve Lowe

@Internet Strategist, I actually have a Texas story that's ON-topic, but no time to share it at the moment. @Pete D: 9/11/01. And to my British friends: what was done to fight this law when it was before Parliament last year? Actually it looks like it's been stricken, or dramatically revised, in the final bill. - Anthony Citrano

Explanatory note from House of Lords committee report: "For the offence to be committed, [the] information obtained, published or communicated would have to be such as to raise a reasonable suspicion that it was intended to be used to assist in the preparation or commission of an act of terrorism, and must be of a kind that was likely to provide practical assistance to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism..." - Anthony Citrano

Thanks Paul, this is what is great about FF from a blogger's perspective, so many good story ideas can be found here. Blogged about this based on your post here: http://thomashawk.com/2009... - Thomas Hawk

Anthony, do you have a link for that explanatory note? - Thomas Hawk

and like the meek, well-conditioned sheep we've become, the British people will simply bend over and take it. The French would be setting fire to cars in Paris if their elected representatives tried to get away with this. - Andrew Terry

Cops, the whole nature of policing is corrupt power exercised corruptly. It brings into question the very mentality of *any* person who wants to be a cop and wield such petty power over their fellow humans. I'm sick of our elected representatives giving in to the "law and order" (laura norder) lobby's request for ever-increasing police-state powers at every turn. Frankly it's time to be militant about it. F--k the police. - Scot Mcphee

I'm betting on a flash mob (pun semi-intended) of photographers going to London a few hours prior to the introduction, and taking a load of photos of CCTV cameras and police officers... - Tyson Key

Love prisonplanet.com. Unfortunate to learn that it will be applied in Canada. In Quebec, we can take pictures of officers in a certain way (meaning if it's not to bother them). Obviously, someone who's taking tons of 'em targeting only one guy would be abusive but this? - Zu from AOD

Police in Haverstraw, NY, took away a geocache and never returned my calls. - Morton Fox

I call shenanigans on "Zu". prisonplanet is conspiracy profiteering, nothing more. The people in this thread are talking about actual events and proposed policy. - Richard Walker

If someone commits or prepares an act of terrorism commits a crime and this should be enough. Taking pictures should not be a crime if someone then break the law with those pictures by doing something dodgy then they should be charged for that crime. Next we might not be able to use the internet or Google Maps or whatever because we might have bad intentions. - M F

http://www.independent.co.uk/news... - M F

Not good. - Ontario Emperor

This a joke!! I'm now scared to go up to London and take photographs! Is there anything left that we can take photos of?? :-( - Kol Tregaskes

a step toward social breakdown with a step toward public servant security - GlennIsaac

Aren't I silly -- I didn't notice the link is prisonplanet.... which I am hightly skeptical of. The source is the British Journal of Photography, so I guess I have to call shenanigans on myself! - Richard Walker

@Thomas - sorry for delay, I need to learn to check in on my comments feeds. Yes, I found that at the UK Parliament site. Here's the page for the bill and its progress, revisions, etc. The committee report is in there: http://services.parliament.uk/bills... - Anthony Citrano

Thanks Anthony. I'm reading it now. - Roberto Bonini

I wonder how they define bad language, and how they can possibly justify that that provision has a place in a "Counter Terrorism Act". It seems to be a far more dangerous proposition than the already absurd photography provision since there would not be any evidence, a policeman could always justify an arrest by claiming that the suspect used bad language. - Robin Barooah