Photography in the underground - by real terrorists?

[aniMal]

There has been many a discussion on the crackdown on photography in public places.

I just saw this video in a Norwegian newspaper, with footage that appears to be inteded for real intelligence gathering. The "tourists" who were filming in the london underground were evicted, and the police claim that they might have been connected to Al Quaida:

http://www.vgtv.no/?id=27650

The intro is in Norwegian, but the main content is in English.

I can see that this might be case from the footage, what other reason would one have to use a videocam in that manner?

Perhaps the autohorities should take us photograpers on board, instead of trying to ban all photography. I would be very easy for a photographer to see that these guys were up to something. Then a few questions would really make it clear...

 

[dfoo]

Assuming that was related to a newspaper article I posted earlier today, the 5 were not convinced on terrorism charges.

 

[wgerrard]

I don't think there's any question that photography might be useful to terrorists and other criminals.

But, so are eyes.

The question should be: Is the camera pointed at something that the law says cannot be photographed?

If people in the UK are not to photograph, say, railroad bridges, then let Parliament pass a law saying that.

 

[btgc]

Long story short: kitchen knife can be used to slice bread and to slaughter neighbors. Let's ban knives and set up rule that bread should be sold only pre-cut?

 

[Avotius]

Maybe we should all have permanent hand cuffs on, but then again we would be able to strangle people with them. In the governments ideal world we would all be stuck on sofa recliners like that Wall-e movie.

 

[Sparrow]

Long story short: kitchen knife can be used to slice bread and to slaughter neighbors. Let's ban knives and set up rule that bread should be sold only pre-cut?

they already did that, Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 139 … the knife thing not the bread bit, that would be silly

 

[Roger Hicks]

Yes, the police dug this one out to try to cover their arses, but if it's the case I'm thinking of, the guys in question were not even tried on terrorism charges, but for fraud. The Crown Prosecution Service said, "The sentences for terrorism would have been similar to those for fraud ayway," which sounds distinctly feeble to me. Either you're fighting terrorism, or you aren't. And either you are cynically using terrorism to destroy civil liberty, or you aren't.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Soeren]

Long story short: kitchen knife can be used to slice bread and to slaughter neighbors. Let's ban knives and set up rule that bread should be sold only pre-cut?

Here in DK there was a change of the law to encounter assaults with knives. caught with an illigal knive (one hand operated or too long etc) you faced 3 month in prison. result? Absolutely innocent people having stanley knives for use e.g at work ( one was a youngster working at a gas staion) in their cars was charged. No effect on knive assaults 🙁 Now they are gonna change the law again 😕
Best regards

 

[skibeerr]

Rubens ',the painter, did a little sidejob as a diplomat and as a spy. He made sketches of fortifications etc.

So if I where a real terrorist I'd take charcoal drawing lessons and beat the system.

 

[Sparrow]

PR in part I fancy, one never know if it’s the smoke or the mirrors we are seeing.

I recall that other group that was arrested and later released without charge when there was that public and press outrage at the death of Ian Tomlinson, that one smelled of manipulation to me.

I imagine the typical tactical response squad bobby would prefer all the cameras to be pointing away from them and a lot of this is towards that end, for the fear factor

(as a matter of interest; the Met has lost some of the Ian Tomlinson paperwork relating to the complaint against them)

 

[Sparrow]

Rubens ',the painter, did a little sidejob as a diplomat and as a spy. He made sketches of fortifications etc.

So if I where a real terrorist I'd take charcoal drawing lessons and beat the system.

lucky he didn’t go on the Underground then 😀

 

[Roger Hicks]

Here in DK there was a change of the law to encounter assaults with knives. caught with an illigal knive (one hand operated or too long etc) you faced 3 month in prison. result? Absolutely innocent people having stanley knives for use e.g at work ( one was a youngster working at a gas staion) in their cars was charged. No effect on knive assaults 🙁 Now they are gonna change the law again 😕
Best regards

Same with pistols in the UK. It is now effectively impossible to own a pistol legally. Has gun crime gone down? No, the reverse. Will they follow Denmark's lead and reverse the law? Hardly. WE NEVER MAKE MISTAKES.

Cheers,

R.

 

[robklurfield]

terrorists eat, drink, sleep, walk, talk, have bowel movements and urinate. to protect the rest of us, these activities should be banned universally as soon as possible. then, we'll all be safe. since terrorists are apt to be sneaky, above all else, whispering must be prohibited. very dangerous.

fyi, living quite close to NYC and having worked there for most of my life, the scars of 9/11 have never gone away. I take the reality of a dangerous world that contains angry people who believe in violence as an answer to their grievances very seriously. I should never again like to see an event as bad as that day. I know people who lost loved ones. nevertheless, I have serious doubts that some of what is done in the name of security does anything other than curtail our freedoms. someone with a pencil and paper could be more threating to a civic edifice than someone with a camera. at some point we reach reductio ad aburdium with all the attempts (and, I think most of them are done with good intentions) to surveil all public spaces.

so, with that, I'll keep shooting where I please and react with polite indignation when someone tells me I'm a public threat or law breaker.