New campaign to "report odd photographers" to the police

**Colin Robertson** · 4-Mar-2008, 01:31

Divide. Demonise. Conquer. Even new politicians like old tricks.

**evan clarke** · 4-Mar-2008, 04:40

Next we will be wearing yellow stars, pink stars and the kids will be wearing cute tan uniforms...EC

**Brian K** · 4-Mar-2008, 05:07

Great so from now on the terrorists will have to capture their surveillance photos surreptitiously instead of blatantly, just a minor inconvenience for them given how small digital video and still cameras have become. And for the rest of us, we can expect to be interrogated by the police every time some chickenshit civilian sees a boogey man.

Does anyone fully realize that it is not the actions of 9/11 that have given the terrorists a victory, but our own eagerness to toss out the very liberties that so many were willing to die to protect? All for the illusion of safety. How different is our life becoming than the life faced by the average citizen ( not talking about those subject to the holocaust here) of a nazi occupied country? No habeas corpus, warrantless search and seizures, imprisonment without charge or due process, interrogation for even the most innocuous of actions and let us not forget government sanctioned torture. Here in the US, 1 out of every 100 adults is in prison. The only thing lacking from the nazi playbook is the ability to just have someone taken out and shot. But we're working on that too. Since 9/11, 200,000 people in the US have died as a result of guns.

They hijack a couple of planes and take down a couple of buildings, and the American way of life is thrown under the bus. Is that all it takes after more than 200 years to circumvent the Bill of Rights and the Constitution? Was this the way of life that the men who stormed up Omaha beach were dying for?

**Geert** · 4-Mar-2008, 05:11

We should all start wearing a bright yellow t-shirt with the text "terrorists use digital cameras" to avoid the hassle.

G

**BarryS** · 4-Mar-2008, 05:23

The sadness in this idiocy is the fundamental inability or unwillingness to apply simple logic or reason the perceived problem. Should people watch for suspicious behavior? Maybe, but singling out photography makes no more sense than singling out any other behavior common to huge numbers of people.

terrorists use laptops
terrorists work out at the gym
terrorists eat fast food
terrorists sketch in notebooks
terrorists buy wire
terrorists use cellphones
terrorists surf the internet
terrorists wear backpacks
terrorists are quiet neighbors

**Greg Lockrey** · 4-Mar-2008, 06:01

Originally Posted by tim atherton

I think "odd" probably covers about 98% of this list... :-)

No truer words were ever written.

**Scott Knowles** · 4-Mar-2008, 07:26

What perplexes me is authorities who don't understand terrorists aren't going to be obvious as photographers, but as either tourist or ordinary people depending on the situation and circumstances, and no terrorist is going to walk around with a $3-5K+ worth of camera equipment. If anything they'll use cellphone or p&s cameras to download and transmit the images. They're not going to be stupid enough to have the evidence on a CF card, and if they do, they're as stupid as photographers.

And what also perplexes me is that when something happens, the first call is often to the public for any images from the cellphones and/or cameras. It's not illegal for you to take photos and we'll arrest you if we want to but we really want the photos because it would help us do our job. So what don't they understand that more photographers are better? If they have all those surveillence cameras what's so bad or wrong about still photographers being there too?

Sometimes I think the police are missing the flash card of getting the picture.

**Scott Knowles** · 4-Mar-2008, 07:37

Originally Posted by Jeff Conrad

The following sign has been in the Union Square parking garage in San Francisco for several years (and was still there six months or so ago) - snipped sign quote.

The Washington State Ferry system does the same thing in their tourist brochure, asking folks to report suspicious photographers, except it's not only legal to take photos on ferries and around ferry terminals (same here, there are no sign prohibiting it or explaining the laws), and "It's not against the rules to take pictures on a ferry. What is against the rules is to get into nonpublic areas and take pictures," said Susan Harris, customer information services manager for Washington State Ferries.

Except they've invited TV, newspaper and magazine film crews and photographers into those non-public areas on ferries for public education and news releases. They clearly want it both ways and push the limit of people's rights in name of fighting terrorists, which by the way the FBI still haven't identified, let alone found, the two "middle-eastern looking young men" who rode four ferries in two days last August.

**Ron Bose** · 4-Mar-2008, 08:30

Maybe the next step is licensing and registration. With a license we've been screened, had security clearance and our photographs be open to audit ...

Yeah, that'll work ...

**mrladewig** · 4-Mar-2008, 08:30

I'm gonna go hide under a rock now. Its too scary out there.

Stupid BS.

Except for the fact that I don't want to deal with the hassles, I'm tempted to go out and do a project on places you can't take pictures.