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codarac
Deinonychus
Joined: Oct 29, 2006
Posts: 307
Location: UK
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 Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:24 pm Post subject: Bus spotter labelled a paedophile and terrorist |
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By Sky News SkyNews - Tuesday, June 24 10:24 amA bus-spotter says it is no longer safe to practise his hobby of 40 years after being branded a terrorist and a paedophile.
Rob McCaffery, 50, is proud of his 30,000 photos of trams and coaches but after being interrogated twice in 12 months he fears the time may have come to hang up his camera.
The credit controller, from Gloucester, says he now suffers "appalling" abuse from the authorities and public who doubt his motives.
The bus-spotter, officially known as an omnibologist, said: "Since the 9/11 attacks there has been a crackdown.
"The past two years have absolutely been the worst. I have had the most appalling abuse from the public, drivers and police over-exercising their authority.
Mr McCaffery, who is married, added: "We just want to enjoy our hobby without harassment.
"I can deal with the fact someone might think I'm a terrorist, but when they start saying you're a paedophile it really hurts."
His love affair with buses has seen him touring former Eastern Bloc countries - but only in the UK has he been accused of doing anything dubious.
Last September in Pontypridd, Wales, a bus driver took exception to being caught in shot and called the police, who demanded to see what Mr McCaffrey had on film.
Later, in Monmouth, a Police Community Support Officers approached him and ran his name and address through the police database, after a member of the public became suspicious.
It is not illegal to take photos in a public place, and MP Austin Mitchell, who has been stopped for taking pictures himself, has called for officers to be better educated about "snappers' rights".
<snip>
see http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080624/tuk-bus-spotter-labelled-a-paedophile-45dbed5.html |
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LTP
Raven
Joined: Jun 14, 2008
Age: 17
Posts: 122
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Were these buses filled with naked children? |
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Bluesummers
Benevolent Dreamer
Joined: Feb 13, 2008
Age: 22
Posts: 1178
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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Guilty until proven innocent 4tw.
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omgz I r banned. |
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Spokane_Girl
I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more
Joined: Jul 17, 2007
Age: 23
Posts: 3853
Location: Benny & Joon town (I wish)
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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How the f**k taking pictures makes you a pedophile or a terrorist? Just stupid people for those whom even think of those assumptions.
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A place to check for the real truth in politics. |
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tweety_fan
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 03, 2007
Posts: 1506
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:27 am Post subject: |
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| seriously he was just interested in the bus.....that does not make you a pedophile.. what kind of stupid moron thinks that anyways? |
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Betzalel
Deinonychus
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 311
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:30 am Post subject: |
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everyone these days apprantly because everyone has been brainwashed by the media to beleive that there is a child molester under every rock and htat everyone you meet is likely to be one and that we need even more draconian laws to punish people we even suspect of it.
its no better than a witch hunt. I want real offenders to be punished but I don't want to see people having their lives ruined just because they come off as a little bit off. |
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Everchanging
Deinonychus
Joined: Nov 03, 2007
Posts: 308
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:42 am Post subject: |
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What else would you expect from a society so full of gullible NTs?
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"How come when it's us, it's an abortion, and when it's a chicken, it's an omelette?"
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Last edited by Everchanging on Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:43 am; edited 1 time in total |
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slowmutant
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 29
Posts: 8640
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:43 am Post subject: |
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Terrorists are very keen on blowing up vehicles with people in them.
Does the guy realize how shady his behaviour is?
If he is any kind of an evildoer, he has found a very cozy pretext. Terrorists will abuse trust and casual assumptions. Esp. if he's doing this in an urban centre, in Britain, post-911.
I can't say blame Britsh police for being as twitchy as they are.
I mean, what if I say I like taking pictures of peoples' houses? I just go around snapping photos of houses, all day long. People see me doing this and wonder. They would not be wrong to be suspicious of someone doing that with no apparent pretext.
Maybe the guy needs a new hobby. |
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Xelebes
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 13, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 456
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:49 am Post subject: |
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| slowmutant wrote: | I mean, what if I say I like taking pictures of peoples' houses? I just go around snapping photos of houses, all day long. People see me doing this and wonder. They would not be wrong to be suspicious of someone doing that with no apparent pretext.
Maybe the guy needs a new hobby. |
I have a lot of friends who do this - they like architecture, so they take shots of houses, buildings and skyscrapers. |
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roguetech
Deinonychus
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 35
Posts: 350
Location: Climax
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| slowmutant wrote: | Terrorists are very keen on blowing up vehicles with people in them.
Does the guy realize how shady his behaviour is?
If he is any kind of an evildoer, he has found a very cozy pretext. Terrorists will abuse trust and casual assumptions. Esp. if he's doing this in an urban centre, in Britain, post-911.
I can't say blame Britsh police for being as twitchy as they are.
I mean, what if I say I like taking pictures of peoples' houses? I just go around snapping photos of houses, all day long. People see me doing this and wonder. They would not be wrong to be suspicious of someone doing that with no apparent pretext.
Maybe the guy needs a new hobby. |
There have been a number of cases like this, more so in Britain than the States. It's attitudes like the one quoted that's the problem. "In the good ole days" (3 years ago), where if you did something "suspicious", they would look at you weird and stop at that. Now you are assumed guilty of something, and delete you pictures (if digital) or confiscate your film, and often times the camera. This is illegal search and seizure, aka theft. The idea this is some terrorist counter-measure is ludicrious. They harrassing. Nothing more. If you complain, they will ask that you prove your innocence (by displaying the pictures they forced you to destroy) - right after running your name through a database, and presumably entering your complaint in there under "social activist" (i.e. "trouble maker/terrorist") for good measure.
There some excuse for us Americans, since the Twin Towers were here, and we have a megalomaniac for a leader, but why the Brits are hell bent on following us down the shitter, I don't understand!
If you take a picture of a building, you're a terrorist. Take a picture of people, you're a pedophile. God help you if you take a picture of a daycare (you sick perverted terrorist freak!). [hmmm... legitmate reason for doing so.... You like the playground equipement, and want a picture for comparision... Like the architecture (it is considered an art form!)... Like the paint job...sign...cars in the parking lot... Your kid goes there... You're thinking of sending your kid there... Or, sick bastard!, you think kids are cute!]
Bottem line, photography is a freedom of speech, as important in this day and age as any other (ever heard of Rodney King??)! |
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slowmutant
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 29
Posts: 8640
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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9/11 changed the world.
You cannot deny this.
In a post-9/11 world, I for one can understand the need for increased vigilance. I'd rather be safe then dead. If you don't believe that terrorists are at this very moment thinking up new ways to kill us ....
There is no statute of limitations on human depravity.
Professional people collude to form international terrorist plots. Medical doctors, for crying out loud! People who supposedly took an oath to do no harm! Arab doctors and engineers, educated people who put their talents to waste. |
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roguetech
Deinonychus
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 35
Posts: 350
Location: Climax
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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9/11 changed three buildings, not the world. Idiots like Bush changed the world, by claiming that two wars are not enough, we also must be prohibited from taking liquids on a plane, allow our phones tapped, allow our laptops searched, and be prohibited from taking pictures of people or buildings.
If you are prohibited from doing any thing "suspicious", who defines that? Bush? The man is a fukin tard! If you can't take pictures of buildings (including houses, bridges, etc.) or people, what the hell is left? Just make it illegal to own a camera. But then that's the point... People are harrassed for doing something completely legal. And that is illegal, and can even be considered a terrorist action (i.e. instilling fear). If it's a danger, make it illegal.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/23/police_photographer_stops/ |
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nirrti_rachelle
Go Tigers!
Joined: Jul 22, 2005
Age: 33
Posts: 1187
Location: The Dirty South
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| slowmutant wrote: | 9/11 changed the world.
You cannot deny this.
In a post-9/11 world, I for one can understand the need for increased vigilance. I'd rather be safe then dead. If you don't believe that terrorists are at this very moment thinking up new ways to kill us ....
There is no statute of limitations on human depravity.
Professional people collude to form international terrorist plots. Medical doctors, for crying out loud! People who supposedly took an oath to do no harm! Arab doctors and engineers, educated people who put their talents to waste. |
Okay, here we go again. Time for another sarcastic "oh noez" post....
OH NOEZ!!! NOT THE TER'ISTS CAUSING DESTRUCTION AND MAYHEM WITH THEIR EBIL DIGITAL CAMERAS AND PICTURES OF THE #23 WALKER AVE BUS!!!!!1111ELEVENTY!!!! WHATEVER SHALL WE DO?!
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roguetech
Deinonychus
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 35
Posts: 350
Location: Climax
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| slowmutant wrote: | | In a post-9/11 world, I for one can understand the need for increased vigilance. I'd rather be safe then dead. If you don't believe that terrorists are at this very moment thinking up new ways to kill us .... |
How many terrorist photographers have been caught? For that matter how many terrorists have been caught by extra security measures at an airport? How many from extra telecom survelance? CCTV cameras all over Britain? Or CCTV cameras in subways and such in the States? How many in total (outside of "enemy combatants")?
The last answer is maybe a dozen or two, most completely inept. None of them weere from additional security measures, but from luck, caught in the act, or would have been caught with pre-911 police work. |
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slowmutant
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Age: 29
Posts: 8640
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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The mismanagement of 9/11 and the admitted overzealousness of the US administration does not negate the danger. Admittedly, the crackdown is excessive, but that doesn't mean the terrorist threat is imaginary.
So you can say OH NOEZ all you want. But at the end of the day, the people who lost their lives at Ground Zero are still dead. Has anyone here lost someone to the 9/11 attacks? |
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