"we have no intention of Section 44 or Section 58A being used to stop ordinary people taking photos or to curtail legitimate journalistic activity."

The problem with that statement is WHO gets to make that distinction? They can always say you look suspicious and there for they suspect you are NOT an "ordinary" person taking photos for "legitimate" reasons.

I'm planning on visiting London in June and will bring less photo equipment and have a shorter stay because of their restrictive laws. Too bad, they'll get less of my money.

monty11 said:
Assurances from the government: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1003/10031003ukgovstatement.asp

Someone at the Government suddenly realized it is one thing to imply that local English Photographers are potential terrorist, but if you start arresting a few tourists, they might just stop visiting UK and I am sure UK is making tons of money from them, Money talks

Pete

Assurances from the government: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1003/10031003ukgovstatement.asp

It's just an excuse to take away our freedom and rights. People automatically assume that the 70-200mm f/2.8 vrII on a D3 has further zoom (it can get in close to your face, paparazzi, yada yada etc) than your tiny sized 14mpx cybershot that has a zoom equivalent to a 300mm...

These same people believe that the 50mm f/1.4 (by looks) is more harmless in zoom than the 14-24mm f/2.8...

Exactly. Google earth and google street view seem to make it silly to scout something out with a camera if you were a terrorist.

What makes it all so ridiculous is Google's Street View ... why would anyone even bother to go and scout any locations when you can go to the street level in Google and just look around.

Actually in Los Angeles photography is usually not a problem except on the property of a tallie...

Fortunately, here in Canada, the paranoia doesn't seem to be quite as rampant as it seems to have become in the US and the UK.

National security is one thing. National paranoia is another. Does anyone really think that a terrorist is going to walk around with a big DSLR with a 300mm lense hanging off of it taking photos of sensitive areas? And, let's face it, there are so many cops and security personel out there just looking for an excuse to wield their authority. In way too many cases it has more to do with their bravado than with actual security.

Photography under threat: The shooting party’s over
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article7050481.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

UK May Consider Repeal of Section 44
http://www.nycphotorights.com/2010/03/uk-may-consider-repeal-of-section-44/

Security Goons at Las Vegas Transportation Center Join War Against Photographers
http://www.nycphotorights.com/2010/03/security-goons-at-las-vegas-transportation-center-join-war-against-photographers/

That's horrible! then again the main question that plagues most of us is http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=1628... People with SLR's and DSLR's are still much more likely to get in trouble than a point and shooter and yet a point and shooter is moch more likely to be a terrorist than a "photographer"!

Mall security guard accuses shopper of being a paedophile for photographing his own son
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/24/mall-security-guard.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

I don't even dare to think what would happen if someone like me (from the former Eastern Block) were detained. Well one thing is for sure that I would not start ranting about my rights to privacy and risk spending the rest of my trip in the slammer. I haven't seen any reports of foreigners being harassed. A friend of mine, a locally well known photographer was detained several years ago and he ended up having to leave the area after a short discussion as the police could not fathom the idea of someone taking shots with an expensive camera for their own pleasure.

I hope this kind of behaviour on the auhtorities side does not spread outside UK borders or even better that this kind of behaviour ceased to exist in the UK.

Here you basically can't photograph police officers at work, even though they can't legally force you to delete the images they can make your next several hours very miserable if you don't. As taking pictures of the police isn't something I'd like to spend my time on, then I guess that I'm pretty much in the clear.

This is absolutely crazy, You know I have been to London before and really enjoyed my 2 weeks there. I took lots of pictures and per current rules would have risks getting arrested. You know I don't have any future plans to visit London again, I would rather go to other more Photography Friendly places in Europe, Maybe Warsaw it would be fairly close to Denmark

Pete

British Police Equate Photography With Antisocial Behavior
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/21/photographer-films-anti-terror-arrest

JMCS said:
Nooooo, physics bad... especially AP physics & AP Calculus BC combined... too much calculus and physics make me brain hurt.

Anyway, after my own thoughts on my two favorite classes of my day... couldn't a terrorist just go on Google maps to see where the best places to blow things up/ cause chaos is?

You missed the point, it is not the actual photo which is readily available on many places all over internet, and it is not about actual possibility that an "undercover" terrorist would go with a tripod and a camera all around but the fear and xenophobia you seed amongst the people

jonnyapple said:
Have you ever considered physics, alpha? Accents are preferred but not required, and optics is a regular part of the curriculum. ;-)

27th. Think about it.

Nooooo, physics bad... especially AP physics & AP Calculus BC combined... too much calculus and physics make me brain hurt.

Anyway, after my own thoughts on my two favorite classes of my day... couldn't a terrorist just go on Google maps to see where the best places to blow things up/ cause chaos is?

Aren't all "Canons" weapons and if "fired" destroy much... then again I am a peacemaker choosing to create with Nikon and not destroy (noise and the color Red) by shooting people with a "Canon"

You are right Monty, forgot about this.
And to add a little humor to all this:
http://www.animatronics.org/strangers/strangers.htm

Actually we already had a similar thread going, but it looks like it was in some bottom drawer: http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=787

Here's something I came across in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2010/jan/07/police-photography-public-space

I keep coming across those all the time and I can't help thinking how f-ed up the world has become and how eagerly the power structures tighten their grip on everything ... not here at least :)

So, to sum it up, for the powers to be, not all terrorists are photographers but all photographers are terrorists....
sell the gear gents, sell the gear....

alpha - You should be lucky that I'm not Your teacher, as my students were pretty much scared when I was the one who was making sure they didn't cheating during exams :)

niko - You are officially warned :)

as for English as second language... back in the 90's I was an exchange student in US high, and... barely speaking english at the beginning of the school year I graduated with honors in english at the end of the school year :)

Ahem! *Cough Cough*