A news story on Tech Wired Australia reports that an Australian man was threatened with mandatory arrest under anti-terrorism laws unless he surrendered his Blackberry mobile phone footage of police searching another man in public.

Who Watches The Watchers: Australian Threatened With Arrest Under Australian Anti-Terrorism Act For Being a Citizen Journalist

It poses interesting possibilities for Citizen Journalists – I wonder how any of the mainstream media would have handled it.

The 2 police officers who forcefully removed my blackberry and threatened me were both female (blonde) …. local police officers. I was too stunned/intimidated to ask for their ID or names… i wish i had… They were extremely rude and acted “drunk with power” as police officers. They told me to shut up when i asked them what crime i had comitted.  (Nick Hac)

As Nic suggests in his comments on the original story – he didn’t know his rights in the circumstances.  Surely deletion of data is beyond the ad hoc authority of a police officer?

Tech Wired have now posted a podcast interview with Nic Hac.

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