Since the fiasco at Carmarthenshire council meeting last week, I have sent requests for information from 19 of Wales’ 22 local authorities concerning their policies on tweeting blogging and filming at their meetings. This has been done under the Freedom of information Act, and so they have 20 days to respond. The remaining 3 local authorities have been contacted by another person, so we should get a clear picture of the situation in Wales.
After hearing the terrible way Carmarthenshire County council treated a Jacqui Thompson and seeing that a FOI request was sent to the council in question about their policies on blogging, tweeting, and filming at council meetings, I thought it would be great to see how each of Wales’ 22 councils treat these issues. So I have already put a request into my council, Powys. I urge you to do so with your council.
I was shocked to see news of the arrest of a blogger in Carmarthen for the terrible crime of… filming a council meeting from the public gallery. Yes, it would seem that Carmarthenshire county council have something that it doesn’t want to be filmed. In today’s connected world this story was across twitter and on the Telegraph website.
Carmarthenshire County Council meeting: woman arrested for filming proceedings http://tgr.ph/lwsUKA— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 10, 2011
It’s a sad situation to find that a supposedly democratic body stops its meeting in order to have a member of the public arrested for filming proceedings, what have they to hide? I welcome the work @caebrwyn is doing holding the council to account and bringing council proceedings to the public.
There is no wonder that councils across the country are dominated by cliques when they actively oppose transparency and openness.
It is a welcome sight to see more people tweeting blogging, and (attempting to) film council proceedings. Lets hope more people will be willing to draw attention to what councils do.
Jacqui Thompson (caebrwyn) has started a petition to the Welsh Assembly on the issue of filming local government proceedings and openness, I urge you to sign it HERE
UPDATE 13/6/11 : It was only a matter of time before a Freedom of Information request was made. Lets hope the response will give some clarity on the situation.
Derbyniais i fy nghopi o Sylw yr wythnos hon, ac mae’n ddiddorol i weld bod yna erthygl gan Marian Delyth ar ffotograffiaeth, a’r ffordd y mae’r Heddlu yn defnyddio deddfau amherthnasol i geisio rhwystro a hyd yn oed atal ffotograffwyr rhag tynnu lluniau ohonyn nhw. Wrth gwrs mae’n hollol ddealladwy nad yw pawb yn hoffi cael eu llun wedi tynnu, ac yn sicr nad yw pawb yn croesawu gweld eu llun yn y papur neu ar y we.Ond mae storïau o Heddweision yn ceisio atal ffotograffwyr rhag tynnu lluniau o brotestiadau a’r ffordd y mae’r heddlu yn gweithredu yn ystod y digwyddiadau hyn yn frawychus. Un o brif arfau’r Heddlu wrth rwystro ffotograffwyr yw’r Ddeddf Terfysgaeth (2000).Gyda deddf Gwrth Terfysgaeth 2008 a hon mae gan heddwas yr hawl i fynd a chamera neu ffôn symudol os ei fod e’n tybio bod y lluniau sydd ar y ddyfais yn mynd i fynd at ddefnydd Terfysgwyr, neu helpu gweithred o derfysgaeth.
Ond yr hyn sy’n digwydd yn gynyddol erbyn hyn yw bod y ddeddf yma yn cael ei defnyddio fel esgus i atal ffotograffwyr rhag tynnu llun heddweision wrth iddynt fod wrth eu busnes plismona pob dydd.Enghraifft o hyn yw stori’r ddynes ymaa chafodd ei hatal yn ffisegol gan yr heddlu oherwydd ei bod hi wedi ffilmio triniaeth cafodd ei sboner hi gan yr Heddlu.Ffilmio’r Heddlu wrth iddynt fynd o gwmpas eu gwaith pob dydd oedd hi, nid oedd cynnwys y ffilm yn mynd i fod o ddefnydd i unrhyw fudiad terfysgol.Er hyn dyna oedd y rheswm dros ei hatal, a’r ymgais i gipio’i ffôn oddi wrthi.
Fel person sy’n cymryd diddordeb mewn ffotograffiaeth, ac wedi tynnu lluniau o brotestiadau a hefyd lluniau o weithredoedd yr heddlu yn y protestiadau hynny, mae’r newyddion hyn yn fy mhoeni.Mae’n amlwg bod yr heddlu yn barod i gam ddefnyddio eu pwerau i atal y cofnodi o ddigwyddiadau gwleidyddol eu naws.Mewn ffordd fe ellir gweld hwn fel sensoriaeth uniongyrchol gan yr heddlu trwy greu awyrgylch o ofn.
Dyma beth y mae’r ddeddf yn ei ddweud:
58.Collection of information
(1)A person commits an offence if—
(a)he collects or makes a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or
(b)he possesses a document or record containing information of that kind.
