Photographers hassled - Not just in the UK

Even with section 44 being consigned to the scrapheap and removing one huge power of the police to harass photographers it seems other countries have yet to catch on or just aren't as sneaky as our officers at concealing their intentions.

In the incident linked the police take exception to being photographed and recorded even though they try to make up laws and apparently try to steal his camera the law was on his side. Not so elsewhere particularly the Land of The Free - the USA.

It seems the police are so worried about their appearances on YouTube they're using wiretapping laws to prevent it; worse yet it seems some State courts are backing them up. That's right in some US States it's now an offence for anyone to record police-offices on-duty even as use as evidence for their own defence.

Although laws differ from State to State the basic argument is that it is an offence to record someone without their consent. In some cases it's allowed when filming is obvious or when no audio is recorded; or, as in the UK, when recording happens in a public place with limited privacy assumptions. However in those States where this isn't covered next time you see five officers beating up some black guy and reach for your video camera you might want to rethink that unless you want to spent 4 to 15 years in prison.