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 A “flash mob” of angry photographers — organized under the banner “I’m A Photographer, Not A Terrorist” — recently turned up in London’s Reuters Plaza to protest draconian anti-terror regulations on picture taking. According to news reports, about 80 people arrived at the Canary Wharf and suddenly whipped out their cameras and started flashing away while displaying signs in defiance of Big Brother.
Among the many heavy-handed rules imposed on subjects of the United Kingdom by terror statutes are broad restrictions on photography. Section 76 of the 2008 counter-terror act provides for prison terms of up to 10 years for taking pictures of the police or military, for example. Another provision allows cops to detain individuals for items that could be “used in connection with terrorism” — dangerous things like cameras. No “reasonable suspicion” required.
"It's not just affecting professionals. It's anyone with a camera,” explained Jeff Moore, a co-organizer of the demonstration and the chairman of the British Press Photographers' Association. “If we don’t do anything about these growing restrictions, we’ll have no visual history in Britain.”
A ‘Spiked’ report about the protest noted that Moore was once detained by police for simply photographing a line of taxis in London. “Anti-terror legislation is creating a paranoid society and photographers are being viewed with suspicion,” he told Spiked. “The I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist campaign is trying to demonstrate that taking pictures is normal and it’s important. We need to be free to document our society.”
The implications of the government measures are indeed frightening for people concerned with freedom of the press. “Photography is under attack. Across the country it that seems anyone with a camera is being targeted as a potential terrorist, whether amateur or professional, whether landscape, architectural or street photographer,” claims the group’s Web site. “Not only is it corrosive of press freedom but creation of the collective visual history of our country is extinguished by anti-terrorist legislation designed to protect the heritage it prevents us recording.”
Another co-organizer of the event, freelance photographer Jess Hurd, was also upset about the police-state tactics. “The public need to be aware of these restrictions on the media,” she said. “Police themselves say the new legislation has been badly drafted and have told us they're not using it. It's been threatened, but we will challenge it every time.” An article in The Wharf noted that one of her colleagues was recently arrested and held for several hours after taking a picture of an air ambulance.
Security and police largely left the demonstrators alone as they snapped pictures of the area and each other. They had a permit, apparently. But many of the attendees quoted in news reports revealed intense outrage and opposition to the government prohibitions. Some noted that a police state was developing and that forbidding pictures of cops was an invitation to abuse power. Others said terrorism was just being used as an excuse to suppress freedom. One man complained that he had been detained three times in three weeks for simply doing his job — taking pictures.
The London police use their Web site to urge subjects to report their fellow subjects for taking pictures, though tourists and “legitimate” journalists are said to have a “reasonable excuse.” But these restrictions should be yet another wake-up call to her Majesty’s subjects that they are losing their rights — fast. There is always some government excuse to limit liberty and the people’s unalienable rights, in America just like in the U.K. and anywhere else. The opposition to these restrictions is continuing to build momentum, but the battle has only just begun. It is past time that people started standing up for sanity and tell their governments that they will not tolerate it anymore.
Alex Newman is an American freelance writer and the president of Liberty Sentinel Media, Inc., a small media consulting firm. He is currently living in Sweden and has spent most of his life in Latin America, Europe and Africa. He has a degree in foreign languages and speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian and a little Swedish and Afrikaans. In addition, he earned a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, with emphasis on economics and international relations.
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