Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Hi there reader
Do you find this message annoying?
Why not register and make a post to get rid of it?

[kgfullerton]

Grant,

Firstly, I hope this is the right section of the forum to post this in.

I have sent a letter to you today regarding Austin Mitchell's Early Day Motion 1155 - Photography in Public Places - I was wondering if you had read this EDM and if you were going to sign your support for it?

Many thanks

Kevin

[shapps]

Kevin,

Thanks for this and I'm pleased to be able to report that I will be happy to sign this Early Day Motion. I think there is a certain irony that it's okay to be photographed by CCTV, but that anyone else taking pictures should be looked upon with suspicion.

For the benefit of everyone else, here's the motion that I'll be signing. EDMs do not go to a vote:

Early Day Motion
EDM 1155
 
PHOTOGRAPHY IN PUBLIC AREAS
11.03.2008


Mitchell, Austin

That this House is concerned to encourage the spread and enjoyment of photography as the most genuine and accessible people's art; deplores the apparent increase in the number of reported incidents in which the police, police community support officers (PCSOs) or wardens attempt to stop street photography and order the deletion of photographs or the confiscation of cards, cameras or film on various specious ground such as claims that some public buildings are strategic or sensitive, that children and adults can only be photographed with their written permission, that photographs of police and PCSOs are illegal, or that photographs may be used by terrorists; points out that photography in public places and streets is not only enjoyable but perfectly legal; regrets all such efforts to stop, discourage or inhibit amateur photographers taking pictures in public places, many of which are in any case festooned with closed circuit television cameras; and urges the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers to agree on a photography code for the information of officers on the ground, setting out the public's right to photograph public places thus allowing photographers to enjoy their hobby without officious interference or unjustified suspicion.

[Lid]

Good news to hear you're signing it Grant, but it is very disappointing that it has got to this stage where the authorities appear to making up the law as they go along.

[kgfullerton]

Many thanks for your support for this motion Grant, and it is a very sad state of affairs where some members of law enforcement (not all) are attempting to enforce a law which does not exist, and cannot provide any details on the law when asked by the people they are detaining - there is various videographical evidence of this around the Internet.

Equally disappointing is the Met Police campaign urging members of the public to report "suspicious" photographers in London (http://www.met.police.uk/campaigns/campaign_ct_2008.htm) - my concern with this is that the vast number of people reported, stopped and searched will be legitimate, innocent tourists, or street photographers who's number in London is steadily increasing since the change in Parisian law made almost all street photography illegal.

I fear the days of amateur photographers in London, if not the UK, may be in jeopardy if a clear, concise, common-sense framework for all parties isn't agreed on and made available to all parties - photographers and all levels of law enforcement from the highest ranks to the officers/PCSO's who are on the front lines.

Many thanks

Kevin