Courtesy of Boing Boing and Channel M comes this story about Stephen Clarke, a Manchester resident who last year was arrested under the terrorism act for allegedly taking photographs of sewer grids.
He was arrested, detained in a police cell for two days, fingerprinted and dna-swabbed, and his home and property subjected to a police search. No photos were found and he was released without charge. Although totally innocent, his fingerprints and dna remain on file.
This is a growing issue unfortunately. As of a week or two ago, you can now be arrested for photographing a police officer, under the terrorism act, and photographers being prevented from taking photos, or being arrested for it, or being asked to hand over / delete memory cards, is rising all the time.
Scary and depressing!
Yes, although -- and I may be hopelessly, almost adorably naive here -- I have some hope that as the issue gets more publicity, people will get to know their rights and the police will realise they can't get away with misusing their powers under the Act.
Though having said that, the ability to force people into moving on or handing over their memory cards through sheer menace will persist.
Anyway, The Liberty Clinic have a really good overview of the whole public photography issue here.