[PRCo] Re: Photography

[Herb Brannon]

They (the government) used to do these same actions (arrest, detention and
seizing of personal property) in Germany, between 1933 and 1945, using the
same reasoning of terrorism, spying and national security.
I have related the following story here on The List; however, to recap. I
was working the Waterfront Line and took photographs while on recovery time
at South Harbour Station. The station, like all of Greater Cleveland
Regional Transit Authority (RTA) stations, transit centers and vehicles is
saturated with cameras. I took the photos (two are attached and don't seem a
threat to the New World Order, at least to me) and got back in the cab and
took off for Shaker Heights. I got to the Flats/East Bank station when a
"security message" came over the communication system for operators on the
Waterfront Line to watch out for someone taking photos of the line and
report to the Communications Center a description and location of said
individual(s). Inasmuch as I did not see anyone else taking photos, other
than myself, it had to be me. Of course, I called in right
away................sure I did. I just kept on operating and throughout my
time at RTA continued to take photos. The only people who seem to suffer
from all the searching and seizing are the law abiding US Citizens. I
suppose all this gives an "illusion" of security to the electorate.

Thanks, Phillip, for sending this news article.

On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 01:55, Phillip Clark Campbell <pcc_sr at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> http://news.yahoo.com/government-war-cameras-160402195.html;_ylt=AhPiz2ixdSl2Du0JYBAF.JAD.7t_;_ylu=X3oDMTQ3dGkyMWlpBGNjb2RlA3ZzaGFyZWFnMnVwcmVzdARwa2cDM2RiNWViYjctZGViMS0zZjQxLTg1YWUtODBiN2ZmNGY0NWE0BHBvcwMxMARzZWMDQXJ0aWNsZSBOZXdzIEZvciBZb3UEdmVyA2U1YTQ1YWEwLWE5N2ItMTFlMC04MWVmLTVjNzhlZTFjNWViZA--;_ylg=X3oDMTMybWo4ZmFxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNjA3NjA5YTEtOGY2Yy0zOWRkLTk2NGMtNmI3YTE4ZTA2ZWMwBHBzdGNhdANoZWFsdGh8dml0YWxpdHkEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdl;_ylv=3
> Excerpts below:
>
> Phil
>
>
> The government’s war on cameras
> Jerome Vorus was taking pictures of the Georgetown neighborhood of
> Washington, D.C. last July when he
> decided to snap some photographs of a routine traffic stop.
>
> Little did he know he would soon
> find himself detained by police for photographing them without
> permission. Of course, Vorus was well within his rights, but he still
> had to wait an hour and a half in the back of a squad car before the
> officers released him. (TSA employee caught stuffing passengers’ junk in
> his trunks)
> “This is happening more and more,” Vorus said in a phone interview.
> “Police are arresting journalists, photographers and tourists, often
> using excuses like terrorism or security.”
>
> A motorcyclist in Maryland was also charged with eavesdropping in April
> after he uploaded a video to YouTube — caught on his helmet
> cam — of a state trooper stopping him with a drawn gun. Police showed up at
> his house four days after the traffic stop with a warrant for four
> computers, two laptops and his camera.
>
>
> However, courts have looked
> unfavorably on overzealous arrests for photography. In almost all cases —
> except in states with aggressive wiretapping and eavesdropping laws,
> such as Illinois — judges have rejected officers’ justifications for
> arrest. After Miller’s first arrest, he was charged with nine
> misdemeanors and acquitted on all but one, which was later reversed on
> appeal.
>
> “The general consensus is the act
> of videotaping in itself is not illegal, so long as the person recording
> the officer’s actions remains at a reasonable distance and does not
> interfere with the officer or create a safety situation,” Roberts said.
>
> Police officers also have no reasonable expectation to privacy while in
> public and performing a public service.
>
> But photographers’ troubles these
> days don’t end with snapping pictures of the police. Amateur and
> professional photographers are being arrested or detained for simply
> taking pictures of government buildings or transit stations.
>
> “In a way its almost as if the war on terrorism has morphed in to the
> war on photography,” Osterreicher said. “Usually the justification is
> security, but nobody’s ever found any link between photography and
> terrorism. No treasure trove of photographs of targets or anything.”
>
>


-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park


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