"You don't have permission to film me"

What happens when the camera is turned on the driver of a CCTV Smart car?

The Medway Messenger decided to find out and the result is both telling and hilarious.

View the full clip here: CCTV car comeuppance

I will provide a short transcript for your enjoyment:

An unnamed Medway warden gets out of a CCTV Smart car vehicle to confront a man filming him, covering the lens with his clipboard.

"Do not take my photograph, you haven't got my permission to take my photograph."

The cameraman responds: "But this is public."

The operator replies: "No it's not, 'cause you are not allowed to take my photograph like I'm not allowed to take yours. Why are you doing this? You're harassing me."

I'll say one thing, they do not like it up 'em!

By Dylan Sharpe

Comments

[The Filthy Engineer]

That's made my day.

[Andrew Ampers Taylor]

Hehehehehe... Pity we couldn't listen in to his phone call though :-)

[Lee]

There is no victory of any kind here, I would say the opposite - that the warden's threat of calling the police compelled the videographer to leave the scene.

The videographer made the right move in my opinion, I am yet to see the police arrive at a situation like this and side with a photographer/videographer, the best he could have hoped for would have been the officer asking him to leave the area - but anyone who follows these kinds of events understands that arrest, a couple of hours in a police van and the rest of the afternoon in a cell is not at all infrequent.

The 'offence' of photography of a council official in a public place is, of course, non-existent, but such is the guarantee that the officer will side with the warden that you are left exposed to any number of catch-all charges from obstruction to a breach of the peace.

This kind of petty and unnecessary authoritarianism is played out up and down the country, in every town and city every day of the year, on the rare occasion that it is filmed I have yet to see an officer/warden/security/PSCO (etc etc) back down or even engage in a calm conversation that takes note of the actual law.

It says much of the state of play that this notion of believing you, as an officer, warden, security guard et al, have total jurisdiction over your fellow citizens in the public space is now part of our culture.

[Gordon861]

But the current rate for being arrested and suing the police seems to be running at a £5k payout. So probably worth standing your ground and risking the arrest.

[F*****T TW***ER]

A fuckwit. Twat'm with a lawsuit. he should sue that monkey for aggressive behaviour and rang the police himself and tell them that he was being threatend and felt unsafe on the public highway. Just had to be a little jumped up pipsqueak of an idiot. He's probably pissed off because his mummy fucked his daddy instead of him. Numpty.

[opsimath]

Officious little c*nt! Take him to the cleaners.

[Redacted]

Something to hide, clearly.

[NeverSurrender]

I actually think that the little pipsqueak has a point. I don’t think that anyone should have the right to film or photograph another person without their consent whether the filming is being done by the council, the police, the press e.t.c. The very fact that he is objecting so strongly to being filmed just goes to show how offensive people find being filmed without permission. This is an excellent example of why the wholesale surveillance of British citizens should be ended. We don’t like or want to be filmed without consent as it is intrusive, intimidating, degrading and, a major violation of our freedom.

I would make the exceptions of casual street photograpghy, filming a crime in progress and, the filming of a suspect as long as it it sanctioned by a proper warrant. Other than that no one should be forced to be filmed or photographed.

[john malpas]

is not medway council a tory council.

[Redacted]

"is not medway council a tory council." ?

This site addresses a broader church than you would seem to suppose, sir.

[Mark M]

Next step, record sound the sound and make it look like you're videoing him. That way when he says "you can't take my picture" and gets all arsey, you can say "I haven't taken your picture, just as you haven't taken mine. Annoying to have a camera pointed at you though isn't it?"

[Demeter]

A bit late reading this one.

Lee, it is not just officious little twats employed by councils who think they can data-rape with impunity.

B&Q have started demanding to know your address whenever you return anything. The reason is "so that we know how far you have come". And of course, they "do not keep the information on the system" and there is "nothing to identify you". And, best of all "all stores are doing it now".

So that's all right then.

The belief that the individual no longer has a single right of autonomy in the face of official/corporate demands is now endemic in this sorry country.

And the saddest thing of all is that most people just quietly go along with their own shafting.

Makes you weep, it really does.

Last time I ever shop there.

[BILL KHAN]

Problem is this council is a tory run council. Our head of parking miss rubena hafizi has not got the faintest of what parking is about. Her sidekicks natlie west(bailiff manager) and jayne chapman (asisstant parking manager) are the same. Apparently where ever this video is shown or menbtioned medway send along letters from their legal team threatning various unthinkable legal tortures. Also after the medway messenger ran a 3 page special on this who ever displayed this in their shop was visited personally by miss hafizi and then pronptly followed up by her lega team in threatning the removal of the same. Screw everybody and then screw them again.

[bill khan]

Also the warden/Civil enforcement officer/twaat is now a comeby day ordinary person patrolling the streets by walking.

[supra shoes]

The technology is now being offered by many vendors with new products rolling out regularly. As you might guess the best products out there are those that hit the market earliest.

[Fruta Planta Diet Pills]

I like your article very much, keep it!