larryni.me.uk

The second most popular petition on Downing Street’s E-Petitions site is ‘Stop proposed restrictions regarding photography in public places’. At the time of writing this there are already over 64000 people who signed it. Which isn’t really surprising with all the stories you hear from the US about people who take pictures of public buildings and structures getting harrassed and threatened by overzealous security men/cops who see ‘terrorists’ lurking at every corner, or people taking pictures of publicly displayed artwork and being told they can’t because of some bullshit copyright claims. The petition is still open until the 14 August 2007.

But now the government has responded, and they posted a statement on the petition’s page in advance of the closing date:

This petition has already attracted over 60,000 signatures from people who obviously share your concern. Not surprisingly, the idea that the Government might be poised to restrict your ability to take photos has caused some puzzlement and even alarm.

We have therefore decided to respond to this petition before its closing date of August, in order to reassure people.

The Government appreciates that millions of people in this country enjoy photography. So we have checked carefully to see if any Government department was considering any proposal that might possibly lead to the sort of restrictions suggested by this petition. We have been assured this is not the case.

There may be cases where individual schools or other bodies believe it is necessary to have some restrictions on photography, for instance to protect children, but that would be a matter for local decisions.

In fact, Simon Taylor, who started the petition, has since made clear that he was not really referring to Government action or legislation. His main concern appears to be that photographic societies and other organisations may introduce voluntary ID cards for members to help them explain why they are taking photographs. Again, any such scheme would not involve the Government.

We hope this re-assures you and clears up the confusion.