For Sale: I'm a Terrorist not a Photographer

Looks as if your strategy was exactly right, especially with a nifty backup gizmo. I hope people won't be needing those increasingly.

I reckon they will.

Even with Andy Trotter's recent clarification of the law sent out to all the fluro-goons roaming our streets I doubt there will be any change in the increasingly confrontational and aggressive (and often simply unlawful) behaviour of the ever growing gangs of police, PCSOs, enforcement officers, council officers and all the other petty figures of authority granted the right to stop who they like when they like without the need for any wrong doing.

The solution is a system that uploads video/photos directly from your camera to the internet for storage/distribution (to something like your Youtube account) - so when some PCSO tries to harass you, detain you or generally wants to fuck about with your day because his cock is too small - the video and images on your camera are already out of reach of his unlawful attempts to either view what is on your camera or delete what is on your camera.

There are already a couple of things on the market, like SD cards with built in Wi-Fi - but you need to be in a Wi-Fi zone - I am sure something will be available fairly soon - if it can't be cobbled together already from a few bits and pieces.

There was always this idea that citizen journalism (basically cameras got cheap, so everyone has one in their pocket/phone) would keep the authorities in check, stop some of their more egregious abuses, but that now seems a little naive, the idea that the state would allow itself to be monitored so easily was a little too simple, in come the laws, in comes the culture.

[/rambling rant . . . ]