Police Stop and Search

Abuse of Police Powers and diminishing Human Rights

Last Saturday I was in London looking for interesting doors to photograph and went to the Whitechaple area that has an interesting mix of old architecture with a backdrop of very modern buildings.

I just wondered the streets seeing what I could find with a camera around my neck and had no precise plan or agenda.

I had found several already in the bag and eventually spotted some run-down buildings behind a school and worked my way around to them looking for the street it was on, which I found without to much effort.

One door was painted badly and the side window was missing its glass and had been replaced with beer cans. I went down a narrow side street and there was a sofa on the pavement that I used while I head a drink. After a short rest and refreshment I completed circling the building by going around the block and barley noticed a police van parked up that appeared empty.

I carried on with my mystery tour not finding much of interest in the area I was now in and an hour later I was back near the street with the run-down building and decided to take a seat at the bus stop while I re-thought my non existent plan.

I noticed two police officers come out of the side road I had previously been on and where the police van had been parked up, one a male police sergeant and a WPC.
They started to watch me and at first it didn't bother me, I was trying to work out what they were doing. Then they started to make notes while looking at me they must have been there for about five minutes some other people passed that they half seemed interested in. "May be they were looking for a suspect?" I thought to myself when the police backed of and went back, thinking no more of it, I went back to re-organising myself and went into chimp mode while I looked at what I had got on the camera's playback feature.

I looked up and now saw a few people had gathered and started to look down the street, something was happening; so I got of my perch and had a nose, I could see nothing of interest but about five or six police officers near the van they had parked and the two police officers I had seen earlier about fifty yards down the road from where I was stood, but on the other side.

I decided to take a walk down a bit further to get a better view, it was not as if the gathered crowd were discussing what they had seen, there was no excitement, just curiosity as to why there were police.

As I got to about forty to forty five yards the police sergeant came over and intercepted me. He asked what I had been doing, "photographing doors!" came the reply with half a smile on my face as I knew he was wanting a much better understanding of why was I photographing doors, the response came "doors" he said with a puzzled look on his face. I explained further and in detail which he accepted and asked me for some identification.

I pulled out my Press Card for him and he looked at the details in detail "odd I thought, normally its just a quick glance" I was expecting this to go all the way and ask for my card to be verified by the Gatekeeper, which would have been a first "what was my verification number"...concentrating hard and trying to bring it up from the depths of my mind, while he studded it.

Then a realisation of understanding hit me as I spotted a Police Photographer at the bottom of the street, it was a FIT team (Forward Intelligence Team) that collect information on things like football gangs, Animal Rights and just about any one who goes on a demonstration or protest, blanket intelligence gathering is what they do as far as I am aware.

I had seen them before and recently at the Climate Camp protest at Heathrow and they have never shown a blind bit of interest in me and they have often nodded goodbye when I was bugging out, I have been stopped and searched before too, a quick look in my camera bag and a flash of my press card and that's been it.

The police sergeant asked me for my address and I asked him why he needed it, his reply was a shock "I can't remember the exact words as he had instantly turned from a curios cop to nasty cop in the blink of an eye, and I was still in shock over the change" but he was threatening to arrest me and pointed out that my camera gear will be seized as evidence to which will take considerable time to get back.

I offered to show him what pictures that were on there, he wasn't interested, replying I could have switched memory cards or deleted the images earlier (I assume he was referring to when I was at the bus stop) "Images of what I asked?" in a demanding and raised tone; all I got was silence and a glaring stare...
Eventually I responded that if he phoned the verification line for the press card he could confirm my details, a further silence and glare followed...the WPC had now crossed the road ready to back him up as she was stood to my half right

I had now been stood there for about ten minutes while the sergeant and the WPC were making notes about me from across the road as they were filling out the search form, that he did not want to give me.

The police photographer was photographing people at the bottom of the street and occasionally trying to get a shot of me from the bottom of the street on a 80-400mm zoom, that I did my best to deny him (it was all I could do as a protest at the time) he eventually realised I was serious when I said I wanted a copy of the form that he was probably kicking himself for by telling me I was entitled to a copy.

He explained briefly the form and gave it to me and headed down the street to the other police assembled as I stood reading what he had written.

Under the heading 'Grounds for Search or Reason for Stop' he had filled in "Subject in possession on long lens Nikon camera and paying close attention to police asked why he was doing that he accounted for his whereabouts and actions" That's it... me paying close attention to the police...no actually it was the other way around....had I taken any photos of the police, no

So carrying a Nikon with a medium lens was cause for a stop and search, now that is extremism in my book, just what are you allowed to carry and wear these days

I waked down to the end of the street where the police photographer was. There was a bunch of people, normal and respectable looking, waiting to get in I asked them what was happening, "One replied it was a public meeting against an arms fair."

Peace protesters, how ironic I thought that these people are trying to stop the arms trading, arms that eventually end up in the hands of terrorists potential enemies, that the police and security services try to find and stop, yet the police are trying to intimidate the peace protesters from trying to get arms trading stopped.

What a Wonderful World

Garry Winogrand Video

One of the great photographers of our time
Garry Winogrand video

Phones for the Photojournalist and Documentary image maker

I have been testing a couple of phones a Sony Ericsson K810i which has quite a powerful camera at 3.2 mega pixies and providing you use it within its limitations it provides reasonable quality images, especially for web and urgent news.

The other and at the moment my favourite is the Fujitsu Siemens Loox T830 the built in 2 mega pixies camera is not up to much but as a photojournalist who has a camera with him 99% of the time this is not a problem for me.
It has a voice recorder that you can use to record telephone conversations ideal for interviews.

It also has:
Video recorder
Video phone
Push email
All the things you get on Windows Mobile
Sat Nav
(This embeds location information into your images)

As well as my favourite, the software I have put on is Pocket Phojo, this allows me to attach my Nikon D2x and plug it into the Smart Phone and upload pictures via FTP to anywhere I want. It connects to 3G networks and WiFi hotspots and any other that is open. as soon as i have taken an image on the camera this combination of phone and software uploads it as soon as it is taken. Pre captioning and image editing can also be done prior to upload too.

Now that is an awesome phone for a photojournalist or documentary photographer

Some accessories I have brought so far for it is an in car charger and a solar powered Freeloader
for charging the Loox T830 in remote places like in a field! The Freeloader also powers up mobile phones as well and you can get disposable one shot batteries for a couple of pounds if there is no sun or I am in a heavy urban environment.



My D2X lasts for a considerable time on its own rechargeable battery and I also have a spare, this combination should allow me to keep shooting from just about anywhere

While the K810i will cover me for the 1% that i don't have my camera

Powered by ScribeFire.

Twitter

Hi every one,
Why not check out my Twitter profile to see what I am doing?

It will make a change to me following what is happening in the industry

Powered by ScribeFire.

Undercover Reporter rumbled at hacker convention

Undercover reporter Michelle Madigan (Associate Producer of NBC Dateline) got a little more than she bargained for when she tried to sneak in to DEFCON 2007 with hidden cameras to get someone to confess to a felony. When DEFCON staff announced the “spot the undercover reporter” game and told the audience that an undercover reporter was taking video to catch someone confessing to a hacking crime, Madigan bolted from the conference premises followed by a pack of ~150 DEFCON attendees and reporters trying to photograph and video tape her. DEFCON officials never got the chance to bring Madigan on stage to offer her a press badge so that she could cover the rest of the event above board.

DEFCON organizers caught wind of this from undisclosed sources and casually contacted Madigan to see if she wanted official press credentials and a press badge to cover DEFCON. Reporters in the pressroom were then fully briefed on the situation before the “spot the undercover reporter game” so that they could cover the event.

According to Senior DEFCON official “Priest” who works for the Government in his day job, Madigan declined press credentials on four separate occasions (twice on phone and twice at DEFCON). Madigan proceeded to register as a regular DEFCON attendee and even told a DEFCON staffer that she was going to the bathroom to get her hidden camera ready. When a DEFCON goon (staffer) explained to Madigan that secret video taping wasn’t allowed, Madigan not knowing she was speaking to a goon replied that she didn’t think it wasn’t a problem. The staffer then followed Madigan around and watched her as she panned her hidden camera around the entire “Capture the flag” room to get unauthorized video of the members.

Madigan was apparently trying to do a shock piece for NBC Dateline to show middle America how criminal underground hackers had descended on DEFCON Las Vegas to learn tricks of the trade and how Federal Agents were tracking them down. When a DEFCON staffer spoke to Madigan posing as regular attendee, Madigan commented that people in Kansas (reference to middle America) would be very interested in what was “really” going on in DEFCON. DEFCON official “Priest” also had reason to believe that that Madigan was planning to out uncover federal agents attending DEFCON and expressed some serious concern about the safety and privacy of those agents. Because of this, staffers used this to lure Madigan to the room where they planned to out her instead in front of DEFCON attendees in the “spot the undercover reporter” game but Madigan bolted from the scene before her photo was put up on the projector.

The sad part of this story is that Madigan was given every opportunity to get a press pass and get access to any of the speakers and attendees above board. Even after the secret video taping she was offered a chance cover the rest of the conference with an official press badge. This is my second year covering DEFCON and I’ve never had any problems getting photos or video from willing attendees and speakers but that’s not what Madigan was going after. She wanted to paint a picture that would shock “people in Kansas” about DEFCON and that’s not what DEFCON is about. The Feds, Press, and hacker community have built up a level of mutual trust at DEFCON so that we have a place to talk openly and honestly. After taking an unofficial poll in the press room here, not one person appreciated Madigan’s antics.

Source: George Ou

Why documentary photographers should take security seriously

Picture this:
A controversial and major political social group suddenly decides to have their annual outdoor event down the road from you. You start to think things over and wonder if you can get access to cover the event without getting lynched by the group, you have done work for other political social groups that blatantly oppose the group you are now considering.

Normally this would not be a problem, but you are aware that due to the group’s reputation, they do check out who is who. It is here that the fun starts; I can type in my name to a search engine and it appears all over the web. I have also done research on the controversial group by visiting their official web site and non official sites. But I failed to stop to consider what my innocent little surf has just divulged about my computer and my location?

It is not unusual for a photographer to research material gleaned online from email and other sources, often on sensitive subjects. By mixing work and pleasure you are opening up to the world who and what you do. If part of your online life is compromised - all of it may be threatened. My Photography website has my name all over it and my home address with all the contact details to pinpoint to where I live and who I am.

If part of your online life is compromised - all of it may be threatened.

The answer is of course to have a dual identity with a false/second web site, but caution needs to be considered as your PC leaks information all over the place, the ideal would be to use a computer solely for the alias identity. This means all login’s email are kept separate, the site is built from the alias computer, all images are kept separate (remember the exif details and file naming etc. that are attached to your images when you make a picture, might need to be changed) all software registration needs to be under a separate identity, too so it is quite a head ache, What you can’t do is book your holiday stuff one minute with your real ID then go back to your alias in the next breath researching some dodgy individualall on the same PC.

You can use things like Virtual Privacy Machine or a live boot version of Linux to browse but your ISP will still stay the same.

Have a quick look at Browserspy or Showmyip to understand what website owners can find out about you using nothing more than your internet connection. Defending your privacy is not something that can only be achieved through the right software and a good firewall. Often your best defence is common sense and a canny understanding of hacking and criminal technique. Criminal networks are increasingly using 'social engineering' to trick internet users into divulging passwords and security information. In 2006, Myspace users who clicked on what they thought were legitimate links were actually carried to a criminal site designed to obtain personal data.

You probably have had the email asking to verify your details of from a bank you don’t use, but what about an email from the one you do bank with? A slip you make in your lunch hour on a social networking site or careless lack of interest from an email could see your money plundered and may therefore compromise months of painstaking research in to the barging or worse yet put you, your family at risk.

Bear in mind that you may not be the only person with a stake in your privacy and security. "When a reporter or photojournalist promises confidentiality to a source, he or she should be prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that the identity isn't revealed, whether deliberately or through carelessness.

Remember it’s not just computers that have identity, mobile phones, PDA, wallets/purses, mail and your rubbish and you, also need to be taken care of and you can still bump into someone who knows you for who you really are and blow your cover; it’s a small world. How small, quite a few years ago I was in the middle east with the military, no wars or conflict were happening then but I did bump into a neighbour from across the road who was on holiday, it can be that small…! How easy is it for an operator to search for a mobile phone number on their network and see who it is registered too?

Meanwhile, staff at an Orange call centre were found to have shared log-ins, meaning customer information could potentially have been accessed by unauthorised workers. When you think of social movements they have a large number of supporters that are not paid staff, how many work for utility companies, phone companies, councils etc. that may have access to finding your name or address to verify who you are and how you pay for the service and what bank!

Bear in mind that you may not be the only person with a stake in your privacy and security. "When a reporter or photojournalist promises confidentiality to a source, he or she should be prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that the identity isn't revealed, whether deliberately or through carelessness.

A series of remarkable challenges to the principle of freedom of online expression have been made in the US in the form of lawsuits known as 'cyberslapps'. This occurs when corporations or public figures attempt to intimidate or reveal the identity of people who criticise them online. These lawsuits tend to work because they target people who cannot afford the legal costs of opposing them. It will probably be happening in the UK sooner or laterThe subpoenas involved often require ISPs to reveal personal information.

According to cyberslapp.org, a coalition involving the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Citizen among others, ISPs may reveal your personal information in response to a subpoena before you know about the legal action.

Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) state that the 'current privacy picture in the UK is decidedly grim' yes you heard ‘grim’. This is partly down to the electronic surveillance allowed under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), which places an obligation on 'Communication Service Providers' to provide 'a reasonable interception capability'. In 2003 there were 1,983 warrants for interceptions issued in England and Scotland under the Act. Privacy International says these surveillance powers, coupled with moves towards a national ID scheme and weak Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation, mean the UK is the worst-performing western democracy in its 'surveillance league table'.

Your privacy and professional security may be vulnerable in ways that were scarcely imaginable just a few years ago. Do you think you can be traced by a simple document from your office? Most people would not think so. But the reality is that the US government managed to persuade many desktop printer makers to deploy technology that encodes documents (using tracking dots) in a way that identifies individual machines. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, no law exists to prevent authorities from using the technology to compromise privacy. It also says that other governments are using the technology in surveillance operations.

While there are good reasons why journalists and photographers need to take even more care online, there are also ways they can take advantage of new services and technology to defeat the crooks and avoid surveillance. One way of combating laptop theft, for example, is subscription to a service that helps you recover your stolen computer when it is next connected to the internet.

See the Undercover service for Macs and the PCPhoneHome equivalent for PCs. A better way is to have the whole hard drive encrypted, with password access at boot up (see truecrypt link below regarding being forced for password retrieval)Another remarkable service that enables Mac users to detect unwanted outbound connections and 'network parasites' is Little Snitch.

Other helpful tools and sites are listed below.

Email
Most people are surprised about how vulnerable email is to eavesdropping and surveillance. While it is very hard for an 'outsider' to access your mail while it is in transit, your email is at risk at both ends of its journey.An 'insider', such as someone at ISP level or in one of the networks through which your email travels, can access and even edit email content.

Through 'social engineering', someone may gain access to your ISP account or access an unencrypted WiFi network. The recipient of the email may be equally vulnerable and any interception will access the 'plain text' content of ordinary email.One of the best things you can do, therefore, is to encrypt your sensitive email communication and one of the best solutions is the desktop package for home offices available from PGP. It is PC and Mac compatible and works with a range of popular email clients such as Microsoft Outlook 2007, Qualcomm Eudora 6.2 and Apple Macintosh's Mail.

Unencrypted WiFi
If you set up a wireless network and a wireless internet connection, then your router will probably give you an option of encrypted access. Use it. Unencrypted or poorly configured wireless networks are frighteningly common. "Most people who buy a WiFi router for home don't bother to set up strong encryption," says Stephen Doig. "When I turn on my laptop at home, I can see half a dozen other WiFi signals nearby, most of them wide open."You should also never use an unencrypted WiFi connection that you stumble upon by chance when you are on the move. These can be 'honey pot' networks that are left open with the aim of luring people into using a conveniently open connection. While your connection is free, your traffic will have no privacy.

Search engines
Most people are surprised to learn that all of the major search engines maintain a record of your search string history. If you have an account with a search engine (for example if you use Google's Gmail) then your history will be directly linked to your name. But even if you do not have an account, your history may be linked to your IP address.

In 2006, AOL accidentally disclosed the records of more than half a million users long enough for the data to be copied and made available from a variety of sources. Some companies defend the logging of search strings, claiming they are developing 'hyper personal' search results based on your interests. But privacy campaigners say the safeguards and privacy policies are far too lax.

Shock and horror
Major companies in the UK have been breaching data protection act

Mr Thomas, the UK’s information commissioner told the BBC there were concerns about internet search engines which keep detailed histories of each individual's online activity.
"We're leaving these electronic footprints right through our lives these days," he said.

The annual report also highlighted a recent glitch on the Medical Training Application Service website which left trainee doctors' personal details open to public view.

A total of 12 high street banks were guilty of discarding customers' personal details - including bank statements, cut up credit cards and loan applications - in unsecured bins outside their premises, the commissioner found. Source BBC
To avoid compromising your privacy:

• Do not put personal information in search strings. For example, do not search for your own credit card number or your address.
• Be aware that your search history will be logged to you personally if you create a search engine account. If you do create an account, modify your search behaviour and delete your search history if you can.
• Consider using other tactics such as blocking cookies or browsing anonymously (see below).

For more information on protecting your online search privacy, see the EFF page on search engine privacy.

Social networking
Networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook are grist to the mill for people involved in the media industry, but you need to maintain your caution to defend your privacy. Social network sites are increasingly being targeted by attackers who set up 'phishing scams' (see below). You need to configure your privacy settings carefully or avoid adding any sensitive information and be careful about how much you reveal to new 'friends'. A common 'social engineering' form of industrial espionage is to befriend someone online just long enough to get them to reveal insider information, the EFF says.

Phishing
The practice of defrauding people by tricking them into divulging access passwords to banking sites and other private information has seen phenomenal growth. The number of unique phishing sites detected by the Anti-Phising Working Group rose to 55,643 in April 2007. These phishing scams hijacked 172 different brands as cover.Typically these scams involve fake emails inviting people to change their passwords or PIN numbers either in direct response to the email or via counterfeit web pages. These attacks have grown in sophistication and complexity and sometimes involve very detailed counterfeit websites that mimic banks, credit card companies and other organisations. What surprises many people is that this counterfeiting can, and often does, involve a fake URL - in other words the URL that appears in the browser looks perfectly normal but, in reality, takes the user to a scam site. If you fall victim to these scams, your entire online identity can be put at risk. For information about how to spot phishing emails and fake websites see:
• Get Safe Online and follow the links to Avoid criminal websites.

• The Anti-Phishing Working Group consumer advice page.

Avoid monitoring and surveillance
Marketing firms monitor web use using 'cookies'. These are small text files that sites place onto your computer that can enable the site owner to monitor your web activity. Most are only accessible to those site owners who placed them; others can be used by marketing companies to track your general web browsing.While it is tempting to block all cookies in order to defend your privacy, cookie use is so widespread that many sites are difficult to use without them. EFF recommends configuring your browser to allow only 'session cookies'. This means that the useful cookies are enabled while the ones that can be used to track your history will expire at the end of your browsing session. But you must remember to quit your browser regularly. For more information about configuring your browser to disable cookies, see this EFF page.

If you do not set your computer to allow only 'session' cookies, then Stephen Doig recommends purging them on a daily basis using your own browser's tools. For more options for managing cookies see this page. But managing or blocking cookies does not hide your IP address from website owners.

One way to defend your work is to find a secure way to browse anonymously. Two of the best options are Tor and Anonymizer.
Both have plug-ins for Firefox browser that is considered less leaky than Internet explorer.

TrackMeNot is a lightweight browser extension that helps protect web searchers from surveillance and data-profiling by search engines. It does so not by means of concealment or encryption (i.e. covering one's tracks), but instead, paradoxically, by the opposite strategy: noise and obfuscation. With TrackMeNot, actual web searches, lost in a cloud of false leads, are essentially hidden in plain view. User-installed TrackMeNot works with the Firefox Browser and popular search engines (AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN) and requires no 3rd-party servers or services.

How it worksTrackMeNot runs in Firefox as a low-priority background process that periodically issues randomized search-queries to popular search engines, e.g., AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. It hides users' actual search trails in a cloud of 'ghost' queries, significantly increasing the difficulty of aggregating such data into accurate or identifying user profiles. As of version 0.4, TMN's static word list has been replaced with a dynamic query mechanism which 'evolves' each client (uniquely) over time, parsing the results of its searches for 'logical' future query terms with which to replace those already used.

Journalists are also advised to view:
Hints and Tips for Whistle-blowers at
http://p10.hostingprod.com/ @spyb...lowers_hin.html

and Security and Encryption FAQ at
http://www.panta-rhei.eu.org/ pan...ndEncryptionFaq

Some more web sites worth visiting.
http://www.truecrypt.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypthttp://
www.freeotfe.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeOTFE
http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Off...ecord_Messaging
http://www.securstar.com/ product...rivecryptpp.php
http://www.panta-rhei.eu.org/ pan...ndEncryptionFaq
http://www.panta-rhei.eu.org/ pan...th
TorAndStunnel
http://tor.eff.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor...nymity_network)

ITV to launch Citizen Journalism Platform

ITV News will launch a citizen journalism website on 31 July that will also feed user-generated comment back to its news programmes.

The service, called Uploaded, is currently in the last stages of a 100-person pilot phase prior to a national roll out.When launched, the website will feature viewer's contributions to daily debates.

Candid pieces of comment and opinion from 'citizen correspondents' will then be used across ITV news programmes in ‘short chunks’ edited to entice people to visit the website and to complement its TV reporting work.

Viewers signed up to the service will be encouraged to submit short video clips from mobile phones and personal computers.To ensure public exposure, submissions to the site will have to adhere to the same compliance standards as ITV TV news.

Introducing the service at the Future of News conference in London today, Deborah Turness, editor of ITV News, told delegates that Uploaded was a multi-platform format to allow 'real' people to make contributions to news programmes.

"The millions that are blogging, exchanging views online and uploading clips to YouTube are building communities and networks that are excluding us," she said.

"What are we doing about the fact that every second spent talking about news online and outside of our communities is a second spent not watching us, in our environment, on television news?

The truth so far is very little."So much has been said about the rise and value of citizen participation but take a look at mainstream news organisations' output and you'll find a bit where people offer their views right on the fringes of the website or on a show at the dead end of the schedule.

"Our job, presently, is to offer authoritative, impartial coverage of news events - and we won't err from that, but what is the point if, in the long term, viewers drift away because news feels disconnected from the way they are consuming and exchanging information?"

Aside from the editorial value, there is clear commercial argument for connecting with them. These are engaged motivated individuals in a market where we repeatedly talk about all those disengaged and disenfranchised viewers who are going elsewhere for their news. Those same people are finding a sense of interactivity, relationship and community elsewhere.

"She deflected suggestion that Uploaded was simply Vox Pop by another name, saying that viewers were making an active choice to contribute, rather than just being accosted in the street by reporters.

"Other genres have adapted to ensure their programmes have a dialogue with the viewers. So why has mainstream TV news remained a monologue, one-way traffic, in a two-way street?" she added.

"We have been operating in a vacuum, we decide what people should care about, the angles to take, and too often find ourselves second guessing the public mood. Uploaded will offer connectivity and modernity to our output."

source: Journalism.co.uk