Fear of photography

[Ron Marshall]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...news.terrorism

[John Voss]

Hmmmm....and I thought fear of photography had to do with using my killer Nikkor 210 lens. Whew!......

[Walter Calahan]

All these rent-a-cops and 'law enforcers' haven't a clue.

Any terrorist who really want to take a picture of something can simply use their cell phone, and nobody would know.

The only other people I would worry about are those using Nikkor 210 mm lenses.

My Nikkor 240 mm is no threat. Ha ha ha ha.

[Mark Woods]

I have a stealth Nikkor 180 mm W.... Should I be looking over my shoulder????

[Daniel_Buck]

I thought all terrorists used large wooden cameras!

[cyrus]

Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don't seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets?

Because it's a movie-plot threat.

Yup -- and the movie-plot metaphor matches our "security theater"

Security theater consists of security countermeasures intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to actually improve security.[

These sorts of fake or trumped-up "threats" that result in "moral panics" are pretty common in history.

After all, all you need is one terrorist photographer (one violent marijuana smoker, one white woman enticed into prostitution in an Asian country, one criminal biker) before they all get tarred with a wide brush.

[Deane Johnson]

I call it mass hysteria on the part of law enforcement.

Anyone with half a brain would realize that a terrorist attempting to take planning photos would be using the simplest, most unobtrusive equipment he could. As pointed out above, probably a cell phone, or at most a simple small point and shoot. He would not be using a tripod, the favorite target of the hysterical security people.

In any instance, they'd shoot fast and vacate, not carefully plan and lay out their shots like a real photographer would.

[BradS]

The terrorist have won. They have accomplished their goal...we are all afraid..that is, we are terrorized by them and are willing to give up our freedoms, our culture.

[cyrus]

they'd shoot fast and vacate, not carefully plan and lay out their shots like a real photographer would.

Ah, but what if they were terrorist who were POSING as "real" photographers?

See, according to a pamphlet issued Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Law Enforcement (front, back) some of the characteristics of terrorists are that they:

- "may appear to fit in and not draw attention to themselves"

- "Will appear normal in appearance and behavior while portraying themselves as a tourist, student or business person"

- "Trained to avoid confrontations with law enforcement and therefore can be expected to portray a 'nice guy' image."

If the nice guys who avoid confrontation with the police and appear normal are actually dastardly terrorists, then obviously the guy with an LF camera is secretly a terrorist too.

[Daniel_Buck]

The terrorist have won. They have accomplished their goal...we are all afraid..that is, we are terrorized by them and are willing to give up our freedoms, our culture.

Who's afraid? Nobody I know is afraid, it's a joke to most everyone I know. Yet, enforcement of the silly 'anti-terrorist' stuff keeps going on. It's an anoyance is what it is. But I don't let it get to me.