Well Brian, for the sake of others who may be interested, the first issue is that requiring a permit of photographers is still the official policy of the Port Authority system - where as in the NY and NJ Transit system has had to bow to constitutional law. See, requiring permits for the exercise of First Amendment rights constitutes a little something we call
Prior Restraint - which is presumtively
unconstitutional - especially when, as it turns out, the NJPATH makes a habit of routinely denying permits based on the arbitatrary wishes of some faceless bureaucrat, which has no relationship to any legitimate security issue (note that the terrorist can take all the photos they want with camera phones)
Second, the police can be perfectly polite and friendly - and still violate your constitutional rights. Its not the police - its the policy that's at question. It doesn't have to amount to a "major hassle" - its still a violation YOUR rights too not just mine. Even if only 1 person's rights are violated by an unconstitutional law,it affects us ALL because we are ALL going to have to look over our shoulders for Big Brother and worry about what he may think of our photography.
Third, it may not seem like a big deal, but its these little invasions of rights that add up. First, they came for the photographers . . . If more people stood up and asserted their rights, we'd have fewer problems.
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