Mass photography protest - 11 am Monday 16th February 2009, Metropolitan Police HQ, New Scotland Yard

A chance to get your own back?

Comedian Mark Thomas is to join with NUJ members in an event to highlight the threat of a new UK law that could be used against press photographers taking pictures of the police.

The Counter Terrorism Act allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone whose pictures are "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".

The union is joining with campaigners to organise a mass picture taking session outside London's police HQ on Monday 16 February - the day the act becomes law.

In theory, this act now makes it illegal to take photos of any of the following:-

(a) The front of number 10 Downing Street with the policeman standing beside the famous door
(b) a scene at a football match if policemen are in the view
(c) The Queen in her royal carriage if members of the armed forces or police or security services are in the picture as well
(d) A police station since the photograph may contain car number plates which may or may not be owned by policemen who could then be identified based on their cars
(e) Buckingham Palace if any members of the armed forces are in the photo
(f) Police on horseback charging down peaceful protesters. So no photographic evidence could be used if it later turns out that these very same police on horseback killed some of the rioters in their horse charge.
(g) RAF air displays since members of the armed forces might be identified in your photos.
(h) The joyful homecoming of HRH Royal Navy ships with all the sailors lined up on the upper decks, since with even using a 3M pixel digital cameras and no zoom, sailors could be identified from your photos.
(i) UK troops serving abroad or anywhere could not be photographed. So you couldn't show in national newspapers them operating in various conflict zones around the world.

This fits in with much recent legislation which leaves the crime definition so open and vague that it can be applied to nearly anyone, effectively making us dependent on the benevolence (or otherwise) of the police in order to stay out of jail! I don't think even cold war Russia was this bad!

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