Police delete London tourists' photos 'to prevent terrorism'

[Kenneth]

Give some people a uniform, some vague legislation and a bit of power and watch them go nuts.


Austrian tourist who photographed bus and Tube stations says 'nasty incident' has put him off returning to London

In a telephone interview from his home in Vienna, Matka said: "I've never had these experiences anywhere, never in the world, not even in Communist countries."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/16/police-delete-tourist-photos

[Mediocrates]

In NY a few people were arrested for taking pictures of One Police Plaza.

[Kenneth]

Which, as the article points out is rather pointless behaviour when you consider how easy it is to obtain photographs of buildings, streets etc. It's security theater stuff really, much like the nonsense at the airports.

A innocent bystander suffered a fatal heart attack at that recent G20 protest as a result of police heavy handedness. A female protester was beaten with a truncheon to the legs and back-handed by some large thug in a uniform (120 cases have been brought against the police so far). The photographic evidence in both cases was supplied by citizens - the real photographers were too busy capturing the childish antics of pseudo anarchists over at the Royal Bank of Scotland - and yet the trend amongst western governments is to clamp down on people taking photographs despite the fact that the benefits far outweigh the supposed hazards.

Check out this angry bobby's lame reasoning for why he's stopping a private citizen from filming:
http://current.com/items/88856223/you_can_t_picture_this.htm?xid=55

The contempt is palpable are around 3.50 seconds in.

But still you gotta laugh:

THIS COUNTRY HAS REALLY GONE TO THE DOGS SINCE JADE GOODY DIED
Yesterday was the last day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7985339.stm) you could use the internet without the stinking government spying on you. In future I shall check my emails in a series of internet cafés, wearing a Mexican sombrero and dark glasses.

London is the most hellish place I have ever visited. Last time I counted there were five CCTV cameras pointed directly at my front door. These days you would need to be mad –literally insane- to travel on the Underground without a Mexican sombrero.

“Please report any suspicious behaviour to a member of staff.” Whenever I see one of their members of staff I take him to one side and whisper that some ****er keeps filming me. And you have to admit that’s suspicious.

Now when I travel I buy a ticket with my credit card then I pay cash for another ticket heading in the other direction. Last weekend, for example, I wanted to visit my old Mum in Norfolk, but I didn’t want the government to know that. So I bought a ticket to Scotland, sending the police haring off in the wrong direction, while I concealed myself in Tie Rack. Then, when the coast was clear, I boarded the Norfolk train wearing a false beard.

And the beauty of the scheme is that my mother doesn’t even live in Norfolk. It was somebody else’s mother. I am outwitting them at every turn.http://chasemeladies.blogspot.com/

[Sharona]

:rofl:

Very good, Kenneth!

I'm not sure the man who died of a heart attack died because of the lunge the policeman made at him. I think he was a bit pie-eyed to begin with so perhaps that also played a part? From what I saw on the video, the policeman behind him appeared to make a sort of lunge towards his upper leg after which he fell over, sat up, said his bit and then moved on. I honestly think it will be very difficult to prove that he died as a result of this action.

I'm outside of London and to be honest, you don't see a policeman from one month to another. If anything, we small townies complain about the lack of police presence, not the intrustion. :unsure:

As for the tourists - they look highly suspicious! (:rolleyes:) Just the type to suicide bomb a British building, eh? But I agree that this over-reaction is barmey. Just like the one which dictates that parents may not take photos of their own children during school plays, sports days and so on. It's all gone too far now.

[Kenneth]

Yeah, I met that ban on school play madness maybe ten or twelve years ago when a relative returned from Scotland without footage of his daughter's performance in the yearly play. The casual manner in which he explained to me why there was no film of her performance lead me to believe that Scotland must be literally crawling with pedophiles, all of whom are in possession of skeleton keys to each and every houehold.