UK man arrested for taking photo of sewer grate

CptStern

CptStern

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they've infected by the "OMG TERR'STS" paranoiditis super bug that was only previously seen in the americas


Still think that if you're innocent, you have nothing to fear from surveillance and control laws? Have a look at this news-video about Stephen Clarke, a man who was accused to taking pictures of sewer-gratings in Manchester and arrested. Though the police couldn't find any photos of sewer-gratings on his phone (and even though "what a sewer grating looks like" isn't a piece of specialized terrorist intelligence), he was held on suspicion of planning an act of terror, imprisoned for two days while the police searched his home, his phone and his computer. When they couldn't find anything suspicious, they released him, but kept his DNA on file, as the biometric of someone who had been accused of plotting a terrorist act.
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http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/03/manchester-man-arres.html
 
Actually, here in the UK, we have always had just as much paranoia. People can no longer protest outside parliament, we have the most CCTV to landmass in Europe and, for a while, security or police forces can detain you if you take photos in shopping centres.
 
It is also against the law to take photos of the police and military personnel. It's part of some paranoia issue whereby faces may be put on the internet, identified and made a target by extremists. So essentially protection of the individuals.

Also, who photographs sewer gratings?
 
Sounds fair to me. Everyone knows terrorists always target the sewer grating infrastructure first.
 
That's Big Brother UK for you. I got my phone confiscated off me for answering it near the Houses of Parliament because the cop said it has a camera on it. Then the ****ers wiped everything off it before i got it back a month later.
 
PimpinPenguin said:
That's Big Brother UK for you. I got my phone confiscated off me for answering it near the Houses of Parliament because the cop said it has a camera on it. Then the ****ers wiped everything off it before i got it back a month later.
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except for the tracking software and the cyanide tipped needle hidden in the earpiece
 
PimpinPenguin said:
That's Big Brother UK for you. I got my phone confiscated off me for answering it near the Houses of Parliament because the cop said it has a camera on it. Then the ****ers wiped everything off it before i got it back a month later.
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I would have gone ape-shit!
 
I would call Harry Potter.
 
Britain's been like this for a while now. Part of the reason I left is I got sick of that kind of atmosphere.
 
When I was in London last year I took a lot of pictures of Houses of Parliament, military exercise and smiling policemen with SMG's... no problem.
 
Polaris said:
When I was in London last year I took a lot of pictures of Houses of Parliament, military exercise and smiling policemen with SMG's... no problem.
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Yeah, but when your black it's a whole different story.
 
UK is now a shithole. I'm leaving ASAP. Good luck with your police state guys.
 
CptStern said:
do you mean in spirit? because your location says "london" ...is that where your body is?
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I went on a journey of astral projection. My human shell is probably where I left it - crosslegged, gathering dust in an East London attic - while my soul flies free, eyeing up Bangkok ladyboys and posting on HL2.net.
 
oh ok ...errr I'm not much into ladyboys but I do approve of posting on hl2.net ..which is ironically very similiar to cruising for ladyboys
 
I'm an Arab and I'm planning to visit London this weekend with someone I know(also an Arab). We'll definitely take some pics, probably a few of them of regular tourist attractions. What are the chances that I'll be arrested?
 
Apparantly quite big... Better bring some lube with you when the police has to ... search you
 
I'm leaving for Australia (skills shortage) as soon as possible. The UK is a shithole of a country. We'll be getting biometric ID cards soon too that you have to carry at all times, unless the Conservatives get into power...
 
I see.

When I was in London back in November, I took several pics while in a moving car, but I guess I was lucky then. This time I'll have to be a bit more covert.

Will bleaching my skin to look less like a Scary Brown Man(tm) work?
 
Barnz said:
I do, for making textures. ;)
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This.

So if I was to go to the UK and take random photos of buildings, walls, windows, doors, sewer grates etc. I would be arrested? :|
What the flying ****!?
 
PimpinPenguin said:
Yeah, but when your black it's a whole different story.
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Yeah, I'm pale enough.
And this one was nice to me.

cop1.jpg
 
Now I'm skeptical about the validity of that story. A google search turns up nothing, and the site that's been linked to by the OP seems to be a blog mainly concerned with posting funny youtube videos.
 
Wow, and I thought we Americans were paranoid.
 
Apocalypse89 said:
I see.

When I was in London back in November, I took several pics while in a moving car, but I guess I was lucky then. This time I'll have to be a bit more covert.

Will bleaching my skin to look less like a Scary Brown Man(tm) work?
Click to expand...

Really, don't worry about it. I've been around London many times with a camera, and every day so are thousands of other people. Whilst this story sucks for the guy who was ''caught'' (goddamn stupid reason to be arrested) taking photos of a drain, and though there are many police officers in London, I highly doubt you will be siezed off the street for taking a photo of Big Ben or the London Eye if simply because there will be so many people around you doing the same thing.

This may be the rabid The Wire fan inside of me talking, but this whole thing sound like a couple of police command officers sitting around a table saying they need to put it out there that we can't allow this kind of thing because the great bulldog won't be afraid of terroizmz!1, so they'll go out, make an arrest and then suddenly realise that there is no way we can stop people from taking photos, and then they'll shift there effort elsewhere, to something else that that requires attention for a few weeks. I really doubt we'll hear of this kind of thing again.

Also, I've got 200+ pictures from Manchester when I went with my art college, all of which were from the outskirts and of industrial-like areas. Tram depots, undersides of bridges, buildings, train lines, sewers, pipes and I bet there's a drain or two in there, because I love repetetive lines n' rusty stuff. PM me if anyone wants some so they can blueprint the local area to remove that cess pit from the face of the Earth*



*Sarcasm/somewhat serious.
 
There's much worse things to be worrying about when you're planning a trip to London. Like the fact that it's a shithole. ;)

So are you here for uni in Colchester? There are lots of great things to see in this country. London isn't one of them. Come to Devon some time, or North Wales, or the Lake District, or the Scottish Highlands...
 
Barnz said:
I do, for making textures. ;)
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^This. It's surprisingly hard to take pictures for textures without looking like a lunatic. "So uh, you're taking a picture of the floor why?"
 
Yeah, I'm a student in Essex uni.

lol I've actually liked what I've seen of London, although having relatives who've been living there for a few years probably helps. I'll definitely go see the rest of the UK when I have the time.

And I was mostly joking about the fear of being arrested in London for having a camera, if anything so far the UK seems better than the internet would have you think. But that might be because of me coming from a less-developed country and having lower standards.
 
Apocalypse89 said:
Yeah, I'm a student in Essex uni.

lol I've actually liked what I've seen of London, although having relatives who've been living there for a few years probably helps. I'll definitely go see the rest of the UK when I have the time.

And I was mostly joking about the fear of being arrested in London for having a camera, if anything so far the UK seems better than the internet would have you think. But that might be because of me coming from a less-developed country and having lower standards.
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Yeah a friend of mine went to uni there.

London is a nice place to visit, but the majority of it is pretty grim. I miss the buzz of the place sometimes...until I go back for the weekend. Used to think the UK was a pile of wank but that's just because I spent my whole life in London and Londoners don't tend to realise there is a world beyond the place.

There are some very nice places in rural Essex actually. You ever been to Saffron Walden or anywhere round that way?

In truth, the UK is not a bad place to live by any means but we've had control-freak ****wits in charge for over a decade and so you see these sorts of problems. The further away you live from a big city, the less it matters. Whether big cities are any more pleasant in the rest of the world, I wouldn't like to say.
 
Besides, can't you just plan your terrorist activities with Google Maps?
 
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