To follow-up David’s post about privacy concerns in relation to Google Streetview, here’s nobody’s business on Community Support Officers’ attempts to prevent someone videoing a public space:
Watch the London community support officers (they’re not real cops, but deputied volunteers who fancy themselves real ones) as they confront a videographer who has the temerity to take footage of a public street. It starts with a sudden gloved hand over the camera lens, then it’s “give me a good reason why you’re filming,” then it’s on to “papers please”; and when the guy behind the camera, sensibly enough, asks under which law he’s not allowed to film there, the bully-boy hisses “shut up.” Twice.
The video is here.