Photographers Rights

I read today that hundreds of photograhpers have staged a protest, outside Scotland Yard, against a new law under Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act which means they could be arrested simply for taking a picture of a member of the police, armed forces or intelligence services.

This is in fact news to me, and had I known earlier I may well have gone to London myself to join in. Whilst I understand the intention of the law, I find the way in which it could be interpreted and implemented hugely unsettling and deeply worrying. I feel it's just another step down the road to somewhere like Nineteen 84. A slow and inexorable impingement of liberties.

There are already a huge number of laws that as a photographer one might have to consider, which demonstrates that the statement "there is no law against taking a picture" to be a fallacy. A contact on flickr was recently trailed by uniformed police with video surveillance equipment simply for taking a photograph of a defence establishment building. I'm assuming this is because it contravenes the official secrets act 1911. Although I understand too well the tactic of police to intimidate the legitimate public when there is as yet no right to arrest.

So whilst I understand the spirit in which this law was passed, I don't necessarily think it's well defined or necessarily needs be implemented as law. Any law that puts a check on civil liberties should be extremely well considered otherwise it sets a dangerous and disturbing precedent.