Tue, 08 Aug 2006
I got too many emails from persons stopped and searched, and some even arrested just for taking pics of buildings. This is apparently considered 'hostile reconnaissance'. This is utterly ridiculous and reminds me of the recent time when the
BT Tower (visible from a large part of London) was not on any AtoZ map so it couldn't be found by (then IRA) terrorists. A friend sent me a link to BBC
story published today about an Iraqi man charged with filming Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.
I've practically stopped taking pics of buildings (in London) and have updated the web page listing some new interesting aspects of English law and Police behaviour with an entry on hostile reconnaissance. This is one of the very few changes of behaviour, with avoiding the tube even more than I used to, that I've adopted.
More needs to be done to expose this further infringements of our civil liberties, however this is not a fight I have the time or energy to take on at the moment (remember that my idle
doodles were once considered by the Police to be a plan of Southwark station).
More...
