So City of London Police say they are right to stop photography because they caught some terrorists who were doing it, except…none were ever charged or convicted of terrorism-
The police said the CPS had decided there was sufficient evidence to bring terrorism charges, but it was not in the public interest because they would have received the same sentence as for fraud.
Bullshit! They really do think we are stupid, so the government would pass up a chance to convict on terrorism charges and defend its authoritarian police force and justify its Prevent spying program and its wars of aggression. The rest of the articles about this are full of smears and accusations against the gang none of which is substantiated and all tied up with a bow of- so there, terrorists are everywhere and stopping photography is how we catch them. Just look at the hard evidence they release to the media-
- one man was caught filming and acting suspiciously at Liverpool Street…City of London Police, who led the investigation, said the filming was an example of “hostile reconnaissance”. {So that’s it folks we are not taking pictures or making photographs we are engaging in hostile reconnaissance, what a lovely military term, good old 4th gen warfare, no civilians we are all potential ‘enemy combatants’ now}
- It showed him examining Oxford Circus, Mornington Crescent and Camden Town Tube stations. He had filmed underground maps and lifts, CCTV cameras, entrances and exits of stations. {er you mean he filmed the station?}
- During the video, the man gave a muttered running commentary in an obscure North African dialect. A translator said the man said at one point: “There are cameras there, there are cameras everywhere.” {Well case closed Inspector, he didn’t speaky The English, and the phrase ‘There are cameras there, there are cameras everywhere‘ is now evidence of terrorism? God help Jessops staff talking to customers}
- Police discovered the gang also visited shopping centres in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Bluewater in Kent, and Bridgend, south Wales. Two men were subsequently convicted of a huge mobile phone and luxury goods fraud scam and deported after serving prison sentences. {Gosh petty crooks went to shopping centres, um and that’s terrorism not say part of their fraud activities or y’kno…shopping? Also bear in mind that real terrorist cells tend to avoid overt criminal activity because they need to remain unnoticed in order to carry out their plans}
- Police discovered that the 7 July 2005 London suicide bombers carried out reconnaissance of the Underground trains network prior to their attacks, one of the trips being a week before they struck. {So your basic guilt by association, they took photos so look it’s what terrorists do…give me fucking strength}
Bull-fucking-shit. The City of London police have decided to react to complaints of illegal and authoritarian thuggishness with a bullshit media campaign disguised as a news item about scary terrorists, put up or shut up, if they were an evil Al Qaeda cell and not just a gang of petty crooks then show the evidence. And no, video on mobile phones is not evidence on that basis I am a terrorist, I have photographed and filmed tube stations, security cameras at sensitive locations and maps, you might accuse me of bad art (which of course would be incorrect, I’ve got an artistic licence from the post office and everything) but not terrorism. This should be a free country right up until we allow this unproven PR crap to go unchallenged as it moves us into a police state. Anyone remember the Cold War or even stories now where poor locals or Brits would be arrested by foreign security forces for taking pictures and we’d all tut and say well that just proves our political system is best and we are free compared to those authoritarian police state nightmares, well game over genius and the media are happy to play along and reprint this PR Bullshit. There, have I said Bullshit enough. We should feel insulted that they think we are so stupid as to fall for this cock and bull story.
Good time to plug this (ht2 D-Notice)-
Ten Percent 
15 December, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Does this mean tourists are banned from taking photos there?
15 December, 2009 at 9:53 pm
No, but also this
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/15/photographer-beaten.html
suggests you should be wary of our security forces.
16 December, 2009 at 2:19 am
It’s a good thing I’m not Brazilian.
16 December, 2009 at 3:44 am
Ooh, are you planning a trip to Blighty?
16 December, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I was taking flash photos in one of the tube stations and an shortly thereafter anouncement came over the speaker system: “photography is prohibited….” A Big Brother moment to be sure. It was the tube to the airport, filled with tourists, hardly the kind of place you would expect to be offlimits! Not that any public place should be.
It’s interesting that other War on Terror Countries (WTC – what an acronym) aren’t obsessed about this photo issue. Australia and the US don’t try to prevent photography to such any such fanatical extent. Why is Britain, which is relatively a bit less fanatical than the US in other ways, so weird about this?
Anyway I’m glad you are calling it BS. I can’t believe the situation has been tolerated for so long as it has.
16 December, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Sounds like a slow day in the cctv office! Well the particular authoritarianism of London (Met & worst of all City of London) police I would guess might be related to the IRA days so they find being oppressively bossy and thuggish is an institutional thing from those days a bit. But generally…it has definitely gotten very bad, very generally the level of anti-establsihment radicalism was pervasive for while (60, 70, 80’s,) then perhaps the 3 decades of neoliberalism is tending towards its authoritarian end state (privatisation of even space, public areas are much threatened now). As generations find the best way to a good life is work for a corporation, keep your head down and be obedient and they want their nice shiny elite lives protected by security forces from rabble who remember the public commons and civil society. Post empire conservatism had a bit of a crisis now it is ascendant again and the WOT is fuelling it.
17 December, 2009 at 3:59 am
Jotman: Bloomberg’s NYC prohibits photography on bridges and in tunnels.
Rick: I want to visit London enentually, but next year I’m hoping to go to Prague, Barcelona, and Madrid. The time I went to London, the City of London was the only part that reminded me of the boring downtowns in many US cities.
18 December, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Sounds a good itinerary, but if you set foot in the UK again, Go North West Young Man!