Take a photo of a police officer - that'll be 10 years in prision

Via Devil's Kitchen we get the story that section 76 of the Terrorism Act could be used to prevent anyone taking photographs of police officers. The exact wording is as follows:

(1) A person commits an offence who—

(a) elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been—

(i) a member of Her Majesty’s forces,

(ii) a member of any of the intelligence services, or

(iii) a constable,

which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or

(b) publishes or communicates any such information.

So not vague in anyway "likely to be useful" for [beeps] sake.

Fortunately "It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for their action." Hmm is "I was just taking some pictures" a 'reasonable excuse'; why the hell do I need an excuse in the first place to take pictures in a public place of anyone? All this is made even more amusing by this article regarding police guidelines on photography.

So would this be deemed illegal? Well the ones I didn't publish that featured the officers faces might well be.