UK Photography Impacted By New Laws

There are two laws currently going through approval in the UK both of which look to have severe implications for UK Photographers.
The first is part of the Digital Economy Bill and relates to orphan works usage rights, which will allow the commercial use of any photograph whose author cannot be identified. Assuming most people are [...]

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Police under fire over Stop & Search

Lord Carlile, who heads the terror law watchdog body, has spoken out on police use of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act (Stop and Search) claiming it is unnecessarily and stresses that no stops have ever led to a conviction.
Section 44 gives police officers the power to stop someone without reasonable grounds for suspicion that [...]

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Police stop and search power to be cut

In what may be good news to photographers (should this get a wider rollout) Amateur Photographer is reporting that following a review of the current Stop-and-Search powers – which have created unwarranted hassle for many – the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) are suggesting that the Police will normally need reasonable grounds for suspicion before they [...]

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National Trust Photography Issues

Amateur Photographer is reporting today that stock photo library Alamy is set to remove thousands of images from its database after the National Trust complained they breached its policy on picture use. Under strict rules, the National Trust bans the commercial use of photographs taken at its properties.
Normally I wouldn’t have an issue with this. [...]

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The War on Photographers

I was exceedingly disappointed today to see an article over on Amateur Photographer about how the UK Government is continuing to encourage people to report photographers despite very little evidence that terrorists wander around with cameras taking snapshots of their targets (apart from in the movies of course).
The National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) is [...]

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Parliament Debates Photographer's Rights

It appears that with all the mess of moving the site from MT to WP I missed this!
Recently the issues around photographers being stopped by the Police under anti-terror legislation was rasied and discussed at length in Parliament.
Conservative MP John Randall, a keen photographer, drew MPs attention to several incidents from his Uxbridge constituency, including [...]

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More silly camera laws

Whilst I recently reported on potential changes to the UK law that might affect photographers, it appears things are getting even sillier in the US with the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (H.R. 414), which has been introduced into Congress this month.
The bill’s text says that Congress has found that “children and adolescents have been [...]

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Don't take photos of police after Feb 16th

The British Journal of Photography is reporting that come February 16th a new law comes into effect in the UK which could worsen the already bad relationship between photographers and the security services.
The law, an amendment to the Counter-Terrorism Act, changes the rules, under section 76 of the 2008 Act and section 58A of the [...]

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Photographs of the President-Elect

So after all the hoop-la, its over and Barack Obama will be the next President of the USA. Whilst I’m sure millions of words have been written about the ‘ 08 campaign there have also been some great photos taken of the contenders.
Boston.com has posted some of the best shots of an election campaign trail [...]

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Flickr cracking down on professional photographers?

Since Flickr’s announcement about its linking up with Getty Images it appears they may be looking to stop photographers who offer professional services from linking to their own personal sites.
Pablo Vincente, like many others, includes a link to his own web site – Digital Pixels – alongside the images he posts. However he recently received [...]

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