Photography is Terrorism, my friend
 

No, really. Check out these posters from the Met (the London police, for those of you who aren't based on this landmass)
Photography Is Terrorism
Inviting Friends Over Is Terrorism
Keeping A Spare Phone is Terrorism

And for those of you who doubt the veracity of these truly Orwellian claims upon our innocence, here's the Met's actual site to show you the origin of the art.

If you can't be bothered with the links, the text of the photography poster reads Yes kids and kittens, it seems that we of the United Kingdom (but mostly London, Manchester, Yorkshire and the West Midlands) are indeed being asked to spy upon our neighbours and report the comings and goings of those around us to the police.
This all seems like a great reason to borrow a camera and start taking photos of CCTV, train stations, etc, possibly whilst speaking gibberish into a dictaphone and/or making notes and idle sketches of the location.

Great. Really great. Talk about bending to the will of the terrorists, who are probably laughing their asses off when they realize that they don't have to blow themselves up anymore. The government is more than happy to do their work.

Would this be classified as propaganda?

Big Brother is watching you.

Photography, phones, and friends are terrorism, but propaganda isn't?

Yes, this is propaganda. If this is actually true, the world has gone completely bonkers, I mean fuck-shit crazy. But hey, supposedly we already knew that, right?

I think its funny for YEARS the governments of the US/UK railed on E. Germany before the wall came down because of their CCTV and their 'citizen police force' called the Stasi (which was a group that encouraged neighbors to inform on others who were involved in 'anti government' activity).

For years the US/UK blasted these things, claimed they were tools of fascism and dictatorship, that 'free' nations didn't need such devices.

Here we are a few years later and the groups which used to preach so loud against these devices is now implementing them in their own government structures.

I think England is collectively going batty. Not only are they starting a (stupid) propaganda war, they're also looking into padding lamp posts to protect the idiots who can't be bothered to watch where they're going because they're too busy texting on their cell phones.

Nothing to be too afraid of, terrorist are weakened greatly the past 10 years.

They are just a bunch of mad people who believed in their religion the way they liked it.

Well I'm fucked - I'm always taking photos as an ongoing art project in preparation for Uni. I was taking pics down the tube the other day...shit! I wonder if I've been reported? *squinty eyes*

I think it is quite pitiful that some countries (especially the U.S.) are so on the defense from "terrorist masterminds" that we've neglected the people in our country. As far as them being masterminds, a mastermind would not be the one blowing themselves up.

I think my calendar is broke, it doesn't say 1984 :(

CptStern: It was considered 'wrong' by the capitalista's because it helped support a government for the workers. (In theory, if well managed or not is irrelevant here.)

However when capitalista's want to oppress the workers and subject them to constant monitoring (to cut the health care costs of bon=bon's and Ding-Ho's), to take away the ability for unions to unionize without the capitalista's seeing who should be killed - when supressing the common worker is in their interest. again then it IS valid for capitalist nations to do. (IE: US/UK)

As one of those "capitalistas" who likes living in a "capitalista" country (even though, income-wise, I'm below the poverty level and get zero government assistance), I'd like to say that I think this is...silly and over the top.

I mean, in my opinion all government information is propaganda (designed to influence towards a specific viewpoint), but couldn't they do a better job than this?

"Big Brother is watching you."
O_O That's exactly what I thought.
But seriously, that's really weird. What if you get arrested because some paranoid crackhead thinks you look "suspicious"? Terrorists aren't cool, but being absolutely paranoid about EVERYTHING isn't either.

I'm not suprised the Met has started this. Ever tried smiling at a stranger in London? Scares the poop out of them...

Definitely NOT a great way to counter terrorism.

The first one makes some sense. The other two are fucking ridiculous.

I rather like it. Lets you know that it doesn't take a superpower to bring on some kind of change. When you're outnumbered, you try and use information as one of your weapons, you spread fear and hate through lovely red little flyers. The funny part is the Met aren't outnumbered. I really don't agree with terrorist semantics, but if the UK was a bunch of egotistical maniacs; I'd like to know that I can do what the terrorists are doing, and that it works.

WOW! It's kind of insane. Is knitting Terrorism? I mean, who knows? I keep a spare phone & have friends over! WOO! Look out for me people! I'll take your picture! I'm WILD!

This is totally insane.
That's all we need - a society that keeps moving back in time.
Hasn't any of these government people learned anything from history? Damn. Watch the US do the same thing. -.-

..There's not much conversation in this matter, is there? Just opinions...-sighs- Just like the real world -stares out the little opening in his cryo-chamber-
Thank god for radiohead covers of deftones.

Remember. Concious, systematic propoganada was invented in England and perfected in the United States. Tyrants don't have to bother with it. It's only in a formal democracy that you need propoganada. Otherwise you could end up with an actual democracy.

OH GOD! Now I have to try doing that! It's on my list of life goals!

Thanks. The posters are great. I needed a good laugh.

Oh, and Tea and Cake or Death, knitting needles are not allowed on planes. They are considered weapons of mass destruction or something. (Who knows, maybe they think you'll knit a terrorist while waiting at the airport.) Anyway, so are shampoo and mouth wash. Whatever!

However, at least now we know who the terrorists are on planes. They are the people who are knitting and who smell nice. The nonterrorists, of course, are the people twiddling their thumbs and who smell funky --- unless twiddling your thumbs is considered a terrorist activity. Hmm! Tries not to twiddle thumbs and appear bored.

I smile at people all the time in London. I find it a lot more friendly/tolerant than it used to be back in the 80's and early 90's.

I know so many people with more than one mobile phone. Lets face it in order to keep up to date with the cheapest tarrifs most people change their phones on a regular basis and some times end up with a bunch of sim cards. I know loads of builders and I think all of them have at least two phones that they carry with them at any given time, sometimes more.

And as I'm studying photography at the moment, I'm always snapping away all over the place.

I don't see that making people this paranoid is the way to break terrorists. I remember being questioned in the 80's just because I have an Irish surname, because, yes, a 15 year old school girl could just be the lynch pin of the IRA! **shakes head sadly**

AWESOME! So here's the plan! You wash your teeth and hair, while I knit and take pictures of you doing it while answering my spare phone! Oooh! The evil that lurks in our hearts will put all others to shame. Muahahaha!

Sounds like a plan. Can I bring my cat? Oh. Oops. He IS a weapon of mass destruction. Sorry. Forgot that. (He is in the process of shredding my paper even as we text).

Well, at least Heathrow Terminal 5 has ditched plans to fingerprint all passengers. Seems that forcing people to br fingerprinted was 'illegal' or some silly little thing like that. These civil rights groups, putting up such a fuss...
(I don't travel by plane, I travel by coach- it's slower, yeah, but it doesn't need several kinds of photo ID and means I can bring liquids and entertainment on the transport with me)

It may be well intentioned but it is easily defeated: all the terrorists have to do is hire a model, and have her stand in front of various "vulnerable" locations and set up an expensive camera and act like they are doing a photo shoot, whilst in reality they will look at the background of the pictures to plot their dastardly deeds.

The last link is the most stupid.

I don't think the house one is so bad, people already report suspicious activity if they see it. Drug houses or whatever.

HP is right about the photo one, theres many ways of looking innocent. Small cameras aren't hard to get, I'm sure you could manage some surveillance without anyone noticing.

I think that the fact they use the word terrorist is worse than the fact these posters exist. Using harder to trace phones, suspicious activity at houses, or mapping security systems could be any kind of criminal, or an innocent person. Criminal would have better to use on the posters.

Seems to me that its to trick people into believing they're doing more than they are, and attempting to catch offenders without spending more.
Get the public to watch for criminals rather than more police than cost money. Call them terrorists so people feel scared and keep a better watch.

Looks like its happening in other ways too, getting speed cameras to watch for speeders rather than police, even though cameras don't pick up on dangerous drivers if they stay under the limit. Or the ban of replica weapons under the violent crime reduction act, but thats an annoying spot for me because it affects a hobby of mine thats similar to paintball. Obviously real guns are already illegal, they should have a shot at enforcing those laws properly instead of making placebo laws to make people think they're doing their jobs.

For their next trick! They will ban origami making, as terrorists can use it to sneak government secrets to their allies. While Bush spends a couple mill on a Dominoes pizza that will be built in to the white house.

One thing that no one's mentioned is the whole thing of reporting random people cuz they don't like them. That would give the person being reported a lot of crap, even if it didn't lead to anything.

It might do, but again that can already happen. Just have to hope that it won't happen more often with these posters in place.

Hmm so that Brazilian woman at work that has two phones that one rings every half hour and speaks in Brazilian could be a terrorist...hmm I thought she was more of a call girl actually. she does like her men.

A friend once noticed a bunch of Muslims going in and out of this house and carrying in and out boxes of something suspicious.

Hmmm. Madness.
but some how reminded me of Banksy
http://www.solsup.com.au/greenman/bansky2.jpg

Could be a call girl for terrorism!

Banksy :) Wheres that one from?

Wasted padding. It's only a matter of time before the cell phone goes away due to it's terroristic nature.

Maybe I just have a hard time detecting sarcasm but...

Pretty sure that's so you don't kill the pilot and fly the plane into any rather large or significant buildings.

If you smile at someone in London they freak out? I was raised in a small town in Alabama, and it is considered good manners to smile and say hello as you pass by. Guess my Southern charm would get me locked up, huh?

Would anyone be stupid enough to trust these?

Was anyone stupid enough to think that the terror alerts were a good idea?

What about tourists? Seriously, if I go to London, it'll probably be a once in a very, very long time. I'm gonna take some frickin' pictures dude! I could very easily be an evil American spy. There's no way I could disguise it. You should hear me speak spanish. It's atrocious! I sound very American, but I'd have a camera and a pay as you go phone, just so I don't happen to lose mine, or rack up roaming charges.

So yeah, the blonde American girl is actually going to be an evil terrorist, intent on destroying London.

Dear IR,

Yes. Sorry. I was being sardonic. You cannot bring knitting needles, but you can bring the knitting. (Sort of like in my home state where you are required to have adequate windshield wipers, but you're not legally required to have a windshield on your car. Go figure). I am aware that knitting needles constitute a weapon, but then so would the kntting (AkA ligature) --but, since needles would make a rather nasty projectile in turbulence, point well taken.

Using needles now? Your cute rainbow avatar won't fool me. I know you are a hardcore gangster, Jaye Jang Soprano.

WOW! What state is that?

Dear T&C or D,

The same state that requires all drivers to have at least one-quarter-inch tread on all four tires (police here check that with a penny), but you are not legally required to have tires on your car. Go totally figure.

Well, if you don't have tires you're not driving anywhere, so I can understand that to an extent. However the Windshield baffles me... Is it possibly you are not obligated to have one unless you are operating the car? That could make some sense.

Well, the tire thing makes perfect cents.. Get it. Penny. Cents. AH! I kill myself.

Actually you are not legally required to have a windshield. Why, I don't know. It snows here a lot, so that makes no sense. And, it is possible to drive a car with no tires, although it is not advisable. (One very well-known CW star tried it, set off sparks that started a forest fire, and got sued. My spin on that fiasco was if they did not want that to happen, then the law should not be on the books in the first place. But, unfortunately it is, and it is enforceable). Thus, go figure.

I read this today. Looks like photography in America is outlawed everywhere. Unless your the government who wants to put CCTV and spy drones everywhere - thats fine. Just don't take your kids to a National landmark and take a photo and now, don't get caught filming football or cheerleaders...

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/820599.html

Bee writer pleads not guilty in porn case

WOODLAND – Gilbert Chan, a business reporter at The Bee, pleaded not guilty Friday to a felony charge of possession of child pornography.

Chan, 52, of Davis was arrested after trying to conceal a camera he was using to videotape a youth cheerleading competition at UC Davis on Feb. 3, police said.

Yolo County prosecutors filed a complaint alleging a single felony count of possessing obscene matter depicting sexual conduct of a person under 18.

Chan's lawyer, Steven Sabbadini, questioned the charge. "What he did was film fully clothed cheerleaders during a public performance," he said. "The question is whether that fits the definition of child pornography."

The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. It also can be reduced to a misdemeanor.

Chan, who was not on duty at the time of the incident, is on administrative leave from The Bee.


Thats right - filming cheerleaders is now considered filming child pornography.