Watching a once-free society circle the drain

Unbelievably (or not, for those who visit here regularly), a spiffy new law has just gone into effect in Great Britain that basically gives police the authority to demand that people not photograph them in public whenever and wherever they feel like doing so. The martinets who run things over there claim that it's an "anti-terrorism" law, but it really operates more like an anti-freedom law:

"The new act makes it a crime to "elicit, publish or communicate information" about British police or military personnel."

So the filming of public safety officers going about the public's business in public is apparently now illegal, and the cops can freely bust peasants who see and record them committing abuses of their power. Or maybe they can't - the author of the article can't even seem to puzzle it out:

"In many cases, officers could allow photographers to keep taking pictures. In other cases, they could ask them to stop or threaten them with arrest."

Wow, that clears things up nicely, doesn't it? No one can be sure of anything over there anymore, save that the "authorities" are going to get their way no matter what. The bobbies must be ecstatic - this will give them them the ability to finally get rid of those pesky crime journalists that irritatingly insist on chronicling how well (or poorly) the officers do their jobs.

And, of course, the punishment is way out of line with the supposed "crime":

"Photographers who refuse to stop taking pictures after a warning face arrest, up to 10 years in prison or unspecified fines." (Emphasis mine)

Somewhere, Winston Churchill weeps.