[alastair_hm]

This seems to be the thin end of the wedge to me, sign the petition.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Photography/

[shuttertalk]

Open to UK citizens or residents only, otherwise I would have definitely signed..

[navis01]

Nice one Alastair I have signed this today. Crazy country (or rather government). Bet they rue the day they put the petitions site online!!

[EnglishBob]

Duly signed. Never know when I will want to take pictures at home!

[Toad]

Not quotes from the UK - but relevant...

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin 1759

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." - John F. Kennedy

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err." - Mohandas K. Gandhi

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson

"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free." - Goethe

[Don Schaeffer]

I can't sign the petition but I know we've been talking about this creeping police-state psychology for a long time. I pray you guys can stop this.

[Polly]

This seems to be the thin end of the wedge to me, sign the petition.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Photography/

I am not aware of any proposed restrictions within the UK.

A search of Hansard has yeilded no debates or proposal to restrict photography in public places, though the usual rules of common sense apply - avoid shots of Govt and other 'sensitive' buildings, don't use a tripod in and around Westminster, Downing St and the City (as they can be similar to rocket lauchers).

.. and public places means just that - ie PUBLIC. Shops, railways and bus stations, shopping malls etc are NOT public places. They are private property which is merely used by the public.

So could you please point me to some concrete evidence of these proposed restrictions?

Polly

[alastair_hm]

I've been searching but haven't found any concrete evidence, just hearsay so far and accounts of photographers being challenge by security guards etc.

I think the petition might have been created to hilight one of these accounts?

[Polly]

I've been searching but haven't found any concrete evidence, just hearsay so far and accounts of photographers being challenge by security guards etc.

I think the petition might have been created to hilight one of these accounts?

Exactly. I suspect the petition has just grown out into or because of another urban myth and it's been spotted and posted across various message boards - but none seem to point to fuller details of the alleged proposals. I wonder why that might be.

Security guards and Police can and do sometimes stop people and ask what they're doing, maybe ask if they have authorisation or ask to see their equipment and digital shots. I've been stopped myself once, by a security guard. I was shooting video and hadn't realised there was a rear entrance to a Bank nearby. He actually helped me get better footage after I explained what I was doing and why.

The content HERE still applies afaik and I can't for the life of me find any suggestion there are draconian restricions in the pipeline. It would be impossible to implement anyway when you consider how many tourist snappers and camera phones there are around the place. Besides - camera phones provided important imagery in the aftermath of the London bombings.

I'll continue to look out for solid evidence of the alleged proposals but I'm not really expecting to find anything .... certainly not in the immediate future anyway.

Pol

[alastair_hm]

Thanks for the link, I'll pass this document along to the other members of my camera club.