Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/09/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hoppy-- Sounds like the Bush WoT virus has spread from the USA Down Under, causing atrophy of common sense and hypertrophy of authoritarianism as it goes. I'll come visit someday anyway. Got to see those places that so entranced me as a teenager when I read Nevil Shute. --howard On Sep 3, 2007, at 7:04 AM, G Hopkinson wrote: > In case it may be of interest. This post is not in any way meant to > reflect any political opinion. > > Sydney Australia is very shortly to host APEC (Asia-Pacific > Economic Cooperation) meetings. There are 21 heads of state and > numerous > officials as well as presumably an international press contingent. > There is very considerable disruption and inconvenience to Sydney > and fears that some protests may end in violence and destruction. > Police have been granted extraordinary powers which are a matter > of some local controversy. > > This week Police officers required that a party of German tourists > delete from their cameras, pictures taken of the temporary > security fencing that encloses some of the CBD. This is an ugly > concrete and steel mesh 2.8 metre high barrier extending for 5 kms > within the CBD. > > Presumably if they had been wielding good German film Leicas, they > would have had the film confiscated. I have a mental image of law > enforcement officers sifting through five or six multi gigabyte > memory cards for each tourist to ensure that no evil images remain. > > This same fence of course has been looked at since its construction > by hundreds of thousands of people and featured prominently on > national television and other media. Greater Sydney has more than > four million people. > > I can not think of any action more futile or foolish than requiring > that those couple of visitors delete those photographs. > > Sorry, visitors, most of us are friendlier than that. My favourite > pub to visit in Sydney is even within the exclusion zone. > > > > Hoppy > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information