Photography In A Nanny State? Surprisingly - Yes!
You’ve seen the stories plenty of times:
- No photographing your kids in the school play - Paedophile!
- No photography in public because there may be kids in your shots - Paedophile!
- Don’t you dare photograph the police - Terrorist!
and so on, and so on.
I’ve seen reports of police ordering people to delete photographs from the cameras & mobile phones. Why? Well because in todays nanny state why shouldn’t they believe photography is illegal?
I really do fail to understand why the police don’t understand what powers they do / do not have. Should they be properly trained or do they believe that they are there to decide what the law is? Why shouldn’t they “make it all up as they go along” given that we are practially in a police state anyway?
Even worse, why do these fucktard teachers / authority figures think that parents should be accused of being paedophiles? If someone said to me “No you can’t photograph your daughter in the school play.” I would respond with “Why on earth not? Both myself & my daughter wish to have a lasting record of this auspicious occasion.” (The quality of grammer & spelling amongst teachers nowadays is that bad that I would probably have to explain some of the bigger words. Which is exactly why I would say them - I enjoy humiliating people that think their authority gives them power. Wrong people, it gives you RESPONSIBILITY. But I digress…). No doubt I would then get the age old twaddle of “Oh but we must protect the kids from paedophiles….think of the kids.”
At this point I punch them hard in the face because what I heard was “We think you are a paedophile who only wishes to photograph his daughter for bad reasons.”. God forbid I might dare to be a normal human being.
Those with slightly more common sense, instead of choosing to allow photography, instead try to think of reasons (excuses) to forbid photography. Such as “We would need the permission of each & every parent.”. Nonsense and lies. And Hey! Did you actually TRY & ask all the parents. Oh, no, one MIGHT have said no, so we just didn’t bother.
So I was quite pleased to read this commentary:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/23/photography_law/
At least someone cares eh?
[UPDATE: This made me chuckle: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/25/bus_spotter_bust/ ]
[UPDATE 24/08/2008: One rule for us, one rule for the police. This is essential reading for all those that think the police are nice and fluffy and can't do any wrong and we should all just trust them and and and: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/23/camera_analysis/
Concerned about your legal rights as a photographer in the UK? http://www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php ]
[UPDATE 20/12/2008: Interesting link: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/photography_climate_echoes_wartime_britain_special_report_news_201239.html ]
