Photography Ban to reach England

The government is seemingly due to pass a bill to restrain photography in public places. If the bill went through only people with a special ID would be able to take photographs. This is an attack on our civil rights and freedom of expression, especially for us photographers and artists. Yet it involves a lot more than the professionals and amateurs of photography... so many people like to take pictures in public spaces. There are so many digital cameras and cameraphones operating at present, this bill would be a nightmare to enforce. Let's avoid going through the trouble and keep our right to photograph. If the government is so hot on privacy why not get rid of a couple CCTV cameras which saturate the streets of England?

A petition against these measures was submitted by Simon Taylor of Phooto.co.uk on the government's official petition website (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk). Simon states concerning the Bill that "these moves have developed from paranoia and only promote suspicion towards genuine people following their hobby or profession."
The deadline to sign the petition is the 14th of August 2007. The aim is to get 750000 signatures to block the Bill. Only 44000 people have signed the petition so far, so if you read this post, click here for a direct link to the petition. Sign it and spread the word!