Camera "seizure fever" is catching

A man in Sydney, Australia was detained and had his cell phone forcibly taken from him and the video on it subsequently destroyed by cops after he used it to film them performing a search on someone in public.

The police also threatened to lock up Nick Holmes a Court for violating the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act before giving his phone back to him, minus the offending footage, of course.

Anyone who thinks the purpose of such legislation was to prevent people from recording their own public servants going about their duties on a public street, raise your hand. Seeing no one, we continue.

"Mr Holmes a Court said he repeatedly complained to the police while they tampered with his phone, but was told to 'shut up'."

That's professionalism Australia-style for you, apparently.

Law enforcement officers in the U.S. are also becoming increasingly convinced (incorrectly) that such acts are illegal here. Well, they're not, so long as the photographer doesn't interfere with the performance of the officers' duties. Apparently the same kind of rules apply Down Under as well, despite what those bully Sydney cops may think:

"Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said police did not have the authority to confiscate cameras or stop people from taking pictures of them performing their duties...'Why should they be fighting being scrutinised?'" (Emphasis mine)

That's exactly what we're asked when we question the ever-increasing incidence of camera surveillance recording us going about every aspect of our daily lives. I guess the police will just have to get used to being the stars of reality TV in the same way that every other peasant is forced to be.

A policy of people being rousted and threatened with jail merely for exercising their rights, including the right to document the public actions of government officials with use-of-force and arrest powers, is one of the hallmarks of a police state. I don't wish to live in such a place, so perhaps we need to revisit these so-called "anti-terrorist" laws to make sure that they're not being misused in order to stifle our freedoms.

I just re-read that last sentence and laughed. That train is long gone, sadly.