acting "anti-social" is not illegal. and if photographing someone without their permission is against the law in the UK, those kids have the same right to be protected by that law as anyone else.

do you think that denying the right to be protected by that law will make subsequent anti-social more or less likely?

In the U.S. taking pictures of anybody on public property is completely legal. If you don't want your kids in a stranger's picture, keep them out of public places.

Hoodie Thugs. That would be a good name for a rap band.

What's the police code for assult?

In before dustbins reference.

It seems on different occasions the "youths" threatened to kill David Green or his wife.

Isn't a mortal threat illegal?

So, umm... let me see. The police have literally thousands of cameras all over London now. They inevitably will photograph teens. The police are thus breaking the law, right?

flavor of the month: acting "anti-social" is not illegal. and if photographing someone without their permission is against the law in the UK, those kids have the same right to be protected by that law as anyone else.

do you think that denying the right to be protected by that law will make subsequent anti-social more or less likely?

It's not against the law to photograph people in public places. No matter how anti-social someone is, they still have to be in private to have an expectation of privacy.

I just realized I was assaulted at the Department of Motor Vehicles last week!

flavor of the month: acting "anti-social" is not illegal.

By "anti-social," he was referring to them "throwing rocks, throwing Coke cans, shouting (to the point that it's apparently abuse), and making obscene gestures."

Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?'

jaylectricity: In the U.S. taking pictures of anybody on public property is completely legal. If you don't want your kids in a stranger's picture, keep them out of public places.

Are you 100% sure about that.

It's easier to not do something about the problem if there is no evidence!

DSanchez: jaylectricity: In the U.S. taking pictures of anybody on public property is completely legal. If you don't want your kids in a stranger's picture, keep them out of public places.

Are you 100% sure about that.

Yes. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place. There have even been some twat-waffles who were taking "up-skirt" photos who used that to get out of being convicted.

Nautical School? Do they turn seaboys into men?

jaylectricity: In the U.S. taking pictures of anybody on public property is completely legal. If you don't want your kids in a stranger's picture, keep them out of public places.

Police in many places will delete pictures from your camera if a parent complains about a stranger taking pictures. So it's "legal" not legal. IIRC we've had a few fark links about that as well.

So this is the same country with the CC cameras every-freakin-where?

FTFA; Last week the Daily Mail reported that a father was told by a play equipment supervisor he was not allowed to take pictures of his own children on a slide.

O tempora! O mores!

Remember how when the droogies grew up, they joined the police?

1) This was in England.
2) They are much more civilized than the U.S.
3) We just don't realize it,
4) ...because we're Americans!

This type of bullshiat is going to be the death of England....along with their PC sensitivity and nanny-state policies.

Neighborhood Watch Alliance, hard at work...

The_Sponge: This type of bullshiat is going to be the death of England....along with their PC sensitivity and nanny-state policies.

Going? No, gone.

Here in the USA, it's going. And only mostly gone.

/miss TotalFark. It's a lot smarter there.

Also, WTF is a "Play equipment supervisor"???

And he claimed that a Police Community Support Officer sent to the scene promptly issued a warning that taking pictures of youths without permission was illegal, and could lead to a charge of assault.

UM..what? If you are out in the public, you are open to having your picture taken. How is this illegal?

Is looking at someone and remembering what they look like still ok?

Hmmm... It seems that the UK assaults millions of civilians a day with CCTV then.

/trolling
//kind of

Normally I'd be up for busting the idiot kids in the chops.. but I have to side with them and the police in this case. It looks like to me this old crusty guy was pissed off about them being near his lawn and got in their face taking pictures.

If you dont like them, call the cops. If they dont remove them then you are the problem. Getting in their face and taking pictures of them to "prove" your point is stupid. Nobody likes unwelcome photographers.

Last week the Daily Mail reported that a father was told by a play equipment supervisor he was not allowed to take pictures of his own children on a slide.

You Brits are farking funny people, I would totally shoot some farkers in the face if they told me I couldnt take pictures of my own kids.

UK Photographers Rights (new window)

Taking into consideration that this article is from the Daily Flail and that it wasn't a police officer that responded but a PCSO (who is somewhere between a rent-a-cop and a proper cop) - I'm still disheartened that people in law enforcement everywhere don't seem to know the law.

JamesBong: Normally I'd be up for busting the idiot kids in the chops.. but I have to side with them and the police in this case. It looks like to me this old crusty guy was pissed off about them being near his lawn and got in their face taking pictures.

If you dont like them, call the cops. If they dont remove them then you are the problem. Getting in their face and taking pictures of them to "prove" your point is stupid. Nobody likes unwelcome photographers.

did you RTFA? It wasn't just the "rude gestures" that were the problem. There were 8 boys who were throwing coke cans, when the guy went to take pictures, 6 of them ran, one threatened him and the other called the cops to report the photographer for "assault"

He was also told by the headmaster of the local school these kids attend that he should try to identify the trouble makers so that it could be dealt with.

I've sworn off any consideration of a trip to UK/Europe. The stunning collapse of any lick of common sense makes me wonder if I'll make it out of the country without spending a spell in jail. The US is headed that direction, but not as quickly, and certainly not without a fight. It's like the population over there has... um... surrendered... or something.

I know it wasn't in the United States, but "taking pictures" is usually considered a free speech activity.

I came for the Hot Fuzz references

Well, well, well my little droogies

SportingWood: I've sworn off any consideration of a trip to UK/Europe. The stunning collapse of any lick of common sense makes me wonder if I'll make it out of the country without spending a spell in jail. The US is headed that direction, but not as quickly, and certainly not without a fight. It's like the population over there has... um... surrendered... or something.

If you take the stories on Fark as a true picture of English life, then please stay home: you're too stupid to leave the house, much less the country.

Dubai Vol:

If you take the stories on Fark as a true picture of English life, then please stay home: you're too stupid to leave the house, much less the country.

boing boing has a new story every day of someone getting hassled by the cops for taking photos in public. The picture is getting truer every day.

They must have a really interesting legal definition of "assault" over in Britain.

California PC 240: An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.

Although I guess you can never tell what someone means to do when he snaps a photo of you. Maybe they're going to make a voodoo doll out of it.

You know, for all that those English kids seem tough, they'd have a rough time of it here in America.

Take Las Vegas, for instance. Sure, they could throw some coke cans around and make threatening gestures. But the old man would come out with a weapon, not just a camera. And then the old man would beat the children into the ground with the honest brutality of someone under too much stress who just snapped.

Ah well. C'est la vie.

DIGITALgimpus: Police in many places will delete pictures from your camera if a parent complains about a stranger taking pictures. So it's "legal" not legal. IIRC we've had a few fark links about that as well.

Yes, because people let them. But then, people also let cops search their car without probable cause. If they had probable cause, they wouldn't need to ask you to do it.

If you don't know your rights, police are free to stomp all over them. Study up, learn, and (when you're in the right) feel free to tell the cops to fark off. I've done it and it's a great feeling.

/impotent rage is the funniest kind of rage

Valarius: honest brutality

Now THAT is a good name for a punk band.

DSanchez: Are you 100% sure about that.

Yes. Next question.

I for one am tired of seeing stories on Fark about the wacky antics of the English nanny state. I mean, it was amusing at first, but now it's just boring. Who really gives a flying fark, anyway?

I mean, don't they have websites hosted in England devoted to this kind of thing? It seems to me that the foreigners are either clogging Fark up with tedious stories about their home towns, or else snidely commenting about how a particular story reveals that all Americans are lame.

/And don't even get me started on the "English" words on those foreign websites.
//Speak English or GTFO.
///And that goes double for England!
////And I'm aware of the irony of using a English Nanny-State thread to decry them, so don't bother to point it out. (Thanks, Sideshow Bob!)

God I hate European liberals. They turned me into a Conservative. Oh well, happier here now. Was getting tired of blaming the right for everything. 10 years happy and Right. Thanks again, stupidarsed nanny state!

/love it when trendy Euro Bush-haters whine and say how 'clueless' we are because of our "awful" heathcare thats so much better than theirs.

Even if Obama is elected, we still have some hope. Maybe.

The other thing to to note is that the English statute crime of "assault" is an incredibly minor charge. It's basically below littering. Assault & Battery, that's the bad one.

Having said that, taking someones photo isn't assault. Assault requires physical contact.

Having said that, PCSOs aren't cops.

Don't the police have better things to do than harass a man for taking pictures of happy-slappy hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones? Like taking care of that damned living statue?

/Got my British TV and film references intertwined again

Somehow, this is Bush's fault.

flavor of the month: acting "anti-social" is not illegal.

It is in the UK.

http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/asbos/asbos9.htm

and if photographing someone without their permission is against the law in the UK,

That's just it -- photographing someone without their permission ISN'T against the law in the UK.

http://www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php

those kids have the same right to be protected by that law as anyone else.

In other words, just as anyone else cannot stop someone from photographing them in a public place, neither can those kids.

do you think that denying the right to be protected by that law will make subsequent anti-social more or less likely?

They weren't denied any rights at all. On the other hand, the photographer was deprived of his right to take photographs in a public place.

/I've never seen a post so full of fail as yours

Cops: You can't film us, it's an offense. (pops)