It looks like the UK Government is looking to screw photographers by poor orphan laws and will be banning non-consensual photography in public:
UK Gov nationalises orphans and bans non-consensual photography in public
Write to your MP now and state your discontent!
New guidance from The National Police Improvement Agency:
Practice Advice on Stop and Search in relation to Terrorism (.pdf)
Perhaps this means that UK officers will start to use common sense when it comes to photography.
As I’m sure many of you know, the MET police recently began an advertising campaign that seems to target photographers. There has been significant push back on the campaign — which is great — with even a labour MP proposing (via here) a motion to support photographers. There have also been quite a few incidents in the news of photographers being harassed for simply taking pictures.
Examples:
UK Police seize amateur photographer’s film
UK mall bans grandparents for trying to photo their grandkids
A lot of people are probably wondering what your rights are if confronted by an individual for taking pictures, therefore I thought I would be useful to post some links to various sites that have talked about the issue.
In the UK, there is an excellent resource on UK Photographers Rights (including a useful PDF download) at Simon Moran’s site. There is also a handy pocket guide that you can laminate and carry in your wallet (created by Chris Shepherd):
Travelling? Don’t worry I’ve got you covered! US Photography Rights (also has a PDF download), Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
If you have any other country guides, post them in the comments section below.
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