28 Jan 2009

Protesting the new counter-terrorism rules

Author:

Olivier Laurent

Yesterday, BJP was revealing that taking photos of police officers could be considered a crime from 16 February. That's when the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 takes effect. The act amends the Terrorism Act 2000 regarding offences relating to information about members of armed forces, a member of the intelligence services, or a police officer.

In effect, the new set of rules, under section 76 of the 2008 Act and section 58A of the 2000 Act, will target anyone who 'elicits or attempts to elicit information about [members of armed forces] … which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism'.

So if you end up taking a picture of a police officer, you could be arrested if that officer thinks the image could be used by terrorists.

You can read our full article here.

However, photographers are not taking it lightly, deciding to fight back. For example, one photographer has set up a Flickr group inviting people to publish photos of police officers they might have taken or will take even after 16 February. Join it here: http://flickr.com/groups/1011510@N21/

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