Australian Photographers

[Sauc3]

As with recent British similar problems, Australia has decided it doesn't like photography in public places and is wanting to make certain areas 'camera free areas'.
Please sign the following petition as a sign of support and to allow photography in all places. http://www.petitiononline.com/ausphoto/petition.html

Tackling camera perverts
Sunday Telegraphy, 11 March 2007

"BEACHES and other public areas could become camera-free zones with a national working committee meeting next month to consider new legislation. Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said uniform laws were needed to protect women and children at beaches, on public transport and at sporting events.

He said unauthorised photography was "clearly a problem" and the new laws could result in a maximum two-year jail sentence. The reforms follow several recent well-publicised reports of so-called "up-skirting".

At the Australian Open in January, three men were charged in separate incidents for using small hidden cameras to secretly film up women's skirts. A man was also caught in January taking photographs up women's skirts on Melbourne trams.

The Standing Committee of Attorney-Generals, made up of all State attorney-generals, released a discussion paper on the need for new laws to control unauthorised photography.

Surf Lifesaving Australia was among those who made a submission. It is particularly concerned at protecting its 40,000 young members. "We have a duty of care to protect our members," Sean O'Connell, of Surf Lifesaving Australia, said.

"There is no way of regulating how photos of children are used. "We just want some clarity and consistency in the legislation."

Coogee beach was hit by a spate of voyeurs who used their mobile phone cameras to take photographs of female sunbathers, some of them topless. A 25-year-old labourer became the first man convicted of using his phone for offensive purposes in December 2004 and was fined $500. Some men have been spotted using digital cameras to snap topless beachgoers."

"My camera can't undress you more than you already are, nor does it blow stuff up. It takes pictures..."

[henk4]

perverts, eh, these Aussie photographers

[whiteballz]

what a crock of shit. im signing that.

[clutch-monkey]

perverts, eh, these Aussie photographers

what a crock of shit. im signing that.

those two posts could not have been better arranged

[2ndclasscitizen]

Already signed it.

[motorsportnerd]

This would affect my workplace - so I've signed it. PC at its worst.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

I F'king hate these sorts of people. there lives are meaningless and retarded, so they choose to mess other people's up.

Signing this right now.

[Cyco]

Signed

[drakkie]

All the perverts ruin it for so many others... The good pay for the bad

[SlickHolden]

Should i sign it even if i can't upload any pics under 6 hours?

830 Signatures Total

[nota]

This is more than just a knee-jerk against those who jerk other appendages for 'other reasons' .. it verges on irrational collective paranioa

Overseas members will like me be astounded to know that in Oz today this level of hysteria extends to the point that it is now often verboten for parents to take a picture or video record OF THEIR OWN KIDS in school plays or similar functions, for fear that some miscreant might be snapping away in the audience and thus spread quasi-porn child imagery of fully clothed little Johnny onto the web. Likewise the once perfectly innocent beach pics of your kids or girl/boyfriend or mother or grannie, lest you also capture the image .. of anyone, whether covert or by accident

Fear begets a spiral of yet more fear then into paranioa we descend

My bet is this 'cause celebre' has evolved from low-brow minds watching those equally low-brow TV pretend-news programs like Today Tonight etc

Thanks for bringing this petition to my notice, signed

[drakkie]

A story springs to mind.

Apparently a Photography student from my University shot pictures in the subway, when a official of the company saw him. Apparently it was forbidden and the student is now being sued,while he asked the persons in the pictures if they'd mind...

[kingofthering]

Crap. I was about to go to Australia and take random pictures of people, then post them on the internet.

[Jack_Bauer]

This is more than just a knee-jerk against those who jerk other appendages for 'other reasons' .. it verges on irrational collective paranioa

Overseas members will like me be astounded to know that in Oz today this level of hysteria extends to the point that it is now often verboten for parents to take a picture or video record OF THEIR OWN KIDS in school plays or similar functions, for fear that some miscreant might be snapping away in the audience and thus spread quasi-porn child imagery of fully clothed little Johnny onto the web. Likewise the once perfectly innocent beach pics of your kids or girl/boyfriend or mother or grannie, lest you also capture the image .. of anyone, whether covert or by accident

Fear begets a spiral of yet more fear then into paranioa we descend

My bet is this 'cause celebre' has evolved from low-brow minds watching those equally low-brow TV pretend-news programs like Today Tonight etc

Thanks for bringing this petition to my notice, signed

The madness of banning cameras and camcorders at school events is not just restricted to Oz unfortunately. Many schools in the UK are also starting to take a similar stance at school plays and also at things like sports days and school trips etc. It really is a pathetic state of affairs when a parent can't record their own child's happiest moments for posterity for fear of being suspected of some sort of sexual deviancy.

There is a general hysteria that has descended upon education in the UK of late. The fear of being sued or even criminally prosecuted by parents has meant that some teachers are unwilling to take their pupils on excursions, because the risk to their career of being sued if little Johnny grazes his knee on a schooltrip is too great. Parents are all too willing to pack their kids off to school during the day for some free babysitting and loco parentis, but at the slightest hint or possibility of money to be made they'll happily sue the school to high heaven for compensation.

Perhaps the most ridiculous case of PC madness in schools is that some primary schools have banned school sports days because the idea of competition and potentially getting beaten is too upsetting for the poor bairns. Aside from the obvious fact that competition is just a basic fact of human existence which everyone has to come to terms with eventually, there is the issue of health. Childhood obesity is currently spiralling out of control in the UK and beyond, with kids hooked on coke, candy and McDonalds, yet the one chance per year schools have of genuinely getting kids hooked on sport and exercise is now outlawed incase parents complain that their kid got beaten in the egg-and-spoon race. They now have "Activity Days" where they do various outdoor games and activities but nobody is allowed to actually win or lose anything. I despair sometimes.

[henk4]

somehow I can sympathise with those who don't like to be photographed, especially now that every mobile phone has a camera function you have no idea what people are actually doing.