Episode 44 - Kiss Privacy Goodbye

Back on June the 25th, for the second year running myself and Dr John Perivolaris, visited George Orwell’s grave for his birthday.

This year we were accompanied by Phil Campbell and Brian Jones and as we picnicked in honour of Eric Arthur Blair, we also discussed our ever diminishing civil liberties, asking what is public and wondering If George Orwell could ever have known that it would not be the tyranny of socialism but the triumph of capitalism which is making us kiss our privacy goodbye?

If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in Itunes already, you can listen to the mp3 here

And if you would like a visual referance to the day, check out these great little films of the day made by  Phil Campbell .. This one in HD and this one shot on the Flip Ultra

Thanks for stopping by.

Do I look like a terrorist?

On more than one occasion, while out and about taking photographs, (mainly in London) I’ve been stopped for having a camera round my neck and looking like I might be about to take a picture.

Yup, that’s all it seems to take now-a-days to raise the suspicions of some underpaid private security guard. Just be out and about minding your own photographic business, perhaps dangerously close to the threshold of some crappy shopping centre and as quick as it takes for a CCTV camera to rotate.. There they are, trying to enforce some imaginary law.

Normally I flash my press pass and tell them I know my rights. Sometimes I am feeling a little more confrontational and ask exactly what law it is they think they are enforcing? On one occasion a confused security guard told me it was one of the prevention of terrorism laws. The conversation then swung round to me asking.. “Do I look like a terrorist??

(Don’t answer that.)

I am not sure when all this started.. Perhaps it was just after 9/11 when everyones hightened level of paranoia needed to be justified by inventing some extra imaginary threats.

Most of the time, the least that happens is I’m looked at in a “I am watching you” kind of way. This is with a Mediterranean complexion, who knows what would happen if i wanted to go out with a camera and I was slightly darker skinned!

You may well have seen them yourselves, but once in a while I pass by a shop window and catch sight of those scarily Orwellian anti-terrorism posters asking YOU to be vigilant and to keep an eye out for people who use more than one mobile phone, or people who travel alot.. or who take photographs in a public place.

This kind of fear-mongering really pisses me off and in the past I have gone into the shop and asked if I could have the poster. Part of me could not believe the ridiculousness of it all and seemed to be wanting to gather these posters as evidence of crimes against common sense.  Are the general public really so small minded as to report one another for doing normal everyday things?

Probably.

Anyway it seems like I needn’t have bothered collecting these posters as most seem to be available 

online to download.

I was slightly comforted today to read this article in the Guardian Newspaper. Bruce Schneier states that the Police’s ‘War On Photography’ is daft as.. in his words.. “..real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don’t seem to photograph anything.”

With that reassurance in mind, read the article to learn that perhaps ‘movie plot‘ threats are being concocted to have some kind of psychological grip on our already fear laden minds. We really must make a point of fighting for our photographic rights..

If you are out and about with your camera, be it video or stills, stick a printout of your rights in your bag and make a stand, just in case.

UK Photographic Rights

US Photographers Rights

Aus Photographers Rights

This topic and others relating to our rights and what denotes a public space in todays day and age will be discussed at the social media picnic on the 25th of June.

Social Media Picnic

Whilst on Twitter I mentioned in passing that I was thinking about holding a social media picnic at the site of George Orwell’s grave and the response was pretty good. Mostly people wanted to say that they were sorry they lived so far away and that it was a good idea.

Why do we not have more social media meet ups outdoors? Especially in places of relevance to a theme? For this very reason I have been thinking also about a social media music festival (If i say social media one more time in this post i think i may shoot myself) and/or getting some geeks out ‘Bushcrafting‘ too.

Granted, at the moment as I write this it is raining outside, but on the whole the Summer is a time to be outdoors, even in the UK.

We tend to be much more chilled and relaxed when outside (i.e. no suits) and I feel the unconventional nature of an open air meet may draw out a flavour of thought we would not normally see with ties constricting blood flow to the brain.

I wish Google’s Campfire One and the Picnic Network were more like a hippy geek meet up round an actual camp fire deep in the woods. Once everyone’s arms were tired from waving their phones above their heads for a signal, who knows what the suits could spawn.

I still have Geek Retreat to organise but what with my Dad’s farm always being in demand for people willing to pay for it finding the perfect venue is not that easy to come by..

So why not just do away with most of the facilities and arrange to meet a select few people in a field somewhere..? We organise who brings the potato salad and who brings the wine and that’s all we need really.

I am up for it and I think Orwell’s Grave is a good start. It has a pub nearby, so in an emergency the toilet can be used and I am sure when picnic supplies run low, a steady flow of good local ale would safely ensure the ideas also kept flowing.

I have bought the domain SocialMediaPicnic.com and would be happy link it to a site listing other open air events going on in the world.. Anyone want to build a wiki/blog or hub site?

Let me know in a comment below if you are up for the first picnic at Orwell’s grave, I have preempted the local Vicar and she is happy to have people sat around on the grass on the afternoon of the 25th of June (Orwell’s birthday), providing no one needs burying that day.

Never-the-less.. Me and Eric will be there with bread wine and cheese, no doubt tweeting, possibly streaming, certainly drinking and eating. Well maybe not Eric. But i’ll bring enough for him too.. just in case..

Here is the postcode: OX14 4AE

People Interested in attending the Social Media Picnic

Me - Documentally

Dr John Perivolaris - JohnPerivolaris

Phil Campbell - PhilCampbell

Derek Mantle - DelBoyDare

Steve Lawson - SoloBassSteve

Ben Read - BookPirate

Richard Galbraith - Ricgalbraith

NOTE: Although the event is burial dependent.. There is always the pub, which I have already tested.