Public Photography and the Police

[mjflory]

The recent uncertainty about photographing in public places in the US has seemed very reminiscent of the restrictions I encountered in the USSR in 1972, when I traveled the breadth of Russia on the Trans-Siberian. But as I think about it I realize there is a very great difference. In the USSR, the rules were set out in advance and distributed to tourists on arrival. Don't photograph train stations, troop movements (of which we saw many near the border with China), and so forth. No one came up to me and said, out of the blue, "You can't photograph Red Square." The change in attitude here has come very quickly, and with the exception of the signs on bridges and an occasional pronouncement from the Metropolitan Transit Authority here in New York, with no real notification. Personally, I find the uncertainty even more unnerving than the rules.

-- Michael

 

[rpsawin]

what earthly good would it do to take a picture of the outside of the Empire State Building from Fifth Avenue
JC

Excellent point. And with universal access to Google Earth why would any terror group need to have anyone take pictures on site?

BTW...does anyone beleive that any agency has walked into a Google office and attempted to shut them down...seize their equipment or jail them?

Bob

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

The recent uncertainty about photographing in public places in the US has seemed very reminiscent of the restrictions I encountered in the USSR in 1972

<snip>

No one came up to me and said, out of the blue, "You can't photograph Red Square."

How do you say in Russian, "food for thought"?