Just curious, does “armed forces,” include police officers or just the UK’s military?

I expect that it won’t actually be long before that happens — not to prevent police states, of course, but just so that people can more easily send things to Twitter or whatever. But this will certainly be a bonus. Naturally, you will also want some hooks on the server end, so that the moment a photo comes in it gets encrypted and mirrored to other servers…

The law reads to me more like a tool to use against those who have stolen or acquired documents related to security, rather than a way to stop people from photographing police.

It’s hard to wade through the outrage and sensationalism to see what’s really going on here.

Narrow views on matters like this may cause outrage, but they certainly won’t change anything.

Signed
-Your strange cousin across the pond

Everyone everywhere better prick up their ears, this shit is coming fast and furious because they want to overwhelm what little defenses your residual freedom has.

also

“The UK has no single constitutional document comparable to those of most other nations. It is therefore often said that the country has an “unwritten”, uncodified, or de facto constitution.[1] However, the word “unwritten” is something of a misnomer as the majority of the British constitution does exist in the written form of statutes, court judgments, and treaties. The constitution has other unwritten sources, including parliamentary constitutional conventions and the royal prerogatives.” (copy pasta from wikipedia)

In any event, just use a micro-SD/micro-M2 card in your phone. It’s literally the size of a thumbnail, so could be concealed very rapidly just about anywhere on your person.

But, on the topic of eroding civil liberties in the UK: Sadly, I think the Red Tories are our only hope.

(And who’da thunk it – the Conservatives coming to the rescue against the right-wing excesses of Labour…)

Or, more cynically:

“Curiously, none of this seems to have done a great deal to change Britain’s political apathy. You no longer imagine, it seems to me, that there might actually be such a thing as a “choice of society”. Along with New Labour, the very idea of anything resembling an ideology vanished.”

-ticked-off French journalist

Trying not to laugh, I politely told him I was taking photos of walls. (I was). On request I showed him the photo. I asked him if he’d like to see more photos of walls. He didn’t want to.

I’m not scared of the British police, nor are most British people, who would probably tell them where to get off if they tried to arrest them or whatever for taking photos that happened to have them in the frame. In the cases cited, that seems to have been what happened.

I disagree with stop gap approaches to making law and newspaper headline based law, but all law enacted here has to pass a reasonableness test in the courts. It can be effectively ignored by the courts.

It is legal in the UK according to the statute book to shoot a Welshman with a crossbow in Hereford between certain hours. If you try it,however, I guarantee you’ll go to jail, whatever the law says.

I’ve written to MPs and councillors about silly laws being enacted and already in place, but not because I think I live in a police state. If I did I’d shut up and make plans to emigrate.

A lot of this rubbish came directly from this country trying comply with anti terrorism justified requests emanating from the USA.

I find the idea of #10 and #11 fearing to leave what they think is some sort of heaven of civil liberties in order to study in the dangerous UK police state very funny, but not a major cause for concern. Just take up that scholarship to MIT, and forget about Imperial College, they have security cameras in the lobby.

Cops in general let people get away with WAY more shit than in the States. Do you know the cops can and do “de-arrest” people here? Try that one at home.

The working people at large have way more balls here. You might have seen the recent wild cat strikes.
So I agree that just because it gets talked up or proposed it won’t necessary become law or be strictly enforced but it does concern me that such things are even considered AND that there are forces out there that would love to see it so.

All in all the UK is a great place to live and the people are a hoot. On everyday levels they seem a bit conformist and do still practice the stiff upper lip thing but push them just a little too far and all that goes away real quick.

Every member of government should be on camera & GPS 24/7.

If they’re not doing anything wrong, then why would they object?

Thank you sir for pointing out that little tidbit. It had not gone unnoticed.

The first wave was drugs, the second was copyright and media. Technologies that watch the watchers will be the third wave of criminalization.

The name of the game is information power asymmetry. Have you seen FLIRs on the side of cop cars in your city yet?

Rmmbr, th 2nd mmndmnt s wht prtcts yr thr rghts. Whn psh cms t shv, yr gns r th lst prtctn gnst th plc stt.

It’s not so much the 10-year penalty that’s the problem. You’re right; convictions are not likely to be common and ten-year stretches are really unlikely. The problem is it gives a cop a priori legal leeway to snatch your camera. You’ll likely get your camera back, but, well, shame about the film [SD card][camera].