Comments on: DC Security Guard Interupts Fox5 News Interview With Amtrak Offical Being Interviewed About Photography Being OK

By: Rights vs Responsibilities – Photographers and the Police « The Rise and Fall of Civilization

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:05:20 +0000

[...] officials don’t seem to know what the actual law is. This is due to mismanagement and piss poor instruction. After 9/11 it was literally drummed into every officer at 10 concecutive roll calls and in [...]

By: Ian W.

Ian W. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:51:14 +0000

Looks like they just moved their site around, the Fox video lives here now:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/Union_Station_Photo_Flap

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Your fox link is dead…

By: Danno

Danno — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:44:00 +0000

It would seem the video has been taken down by Fox. Anyone still have a copy somewhere?

By: Chief Robot

Chief Robot — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:52:00 +0000

It seems we are seeing more and more incidents of photographers being hassled by security guards or even real police. Just check Boing Boing and you will see almost 1 incident per week. Has anyone started keeping track of all the different incidents?
I’m really glad you have this blog Thomas.
Please everyone – make sure Eleanor Holmes is re-elected!
More power to the photographers!

By: Eric in SF

Eric in SF — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Until the police are fully educated on the laws surrounding photography in these situations, we are still at risk.

How many of us can afford to suddenly lose 24, 48, 36 hours of our life in a cell for refusing to follow the orders of a police officer? Yes, you'll be vindicated later, but who has the money to hire a lawyer to defend yourself?

In the USA, the simple fact remains - if you refuse to follow the order(s) of a police officer, EVEN IF THE OFFICER IS WRONG, you go to jail. Untangling THAT mess has the potential to be life-changing, and not in a good way.

By: JeffH

JeffH — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:43:00 +0000

Here is Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s response on this issue. She is clearly aware of what the law is and what our rights as photographers are. Hopefully she will make more noise on this issue.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=6680096&version;=1&locale;=EN-US

By: Kirk

Kirk — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:24:00 +0000

Thomas,

I am put this comment here too, due to the fact I noticed it publish the links I added. So I will ad the link to the Law page at the end. Sorry about the confusion.

I had heard of photographers being harassed in Chicago and in N.Y.C. I found the FOX 5 NEWS interview at the Union Station in Washington D.C. very comedic. I think this has come about because security and law enforcement are paranoid of photographers in general. I also think this a due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of the laws and rights.

I ran across this yesterday while I was searching out this very topic on Photographer’s Rights. This .PDF was put together by Bert P. Krages II Attorney at Law. It is recommended to make a copy and put it with your photo gear.

Link: http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

By: TranceMist

TranceMist — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Wow, what morons. Even after the NPR guys were there.

I actually had a decent encounter at a security guard at a convention center yesterday. It was late at night. He walked up and asked what I was taking pictures of, I replied "The architecture, it's cool."

We exchanged a bit more chit-chat, but he was reasonable and never asked that I stop or leave or anything like that.

By: btezra

btezra — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:03:00 +0000

I've always been cautious about private property and not allowing anyone (security, etc.) to have an excuse to hassle me...I just don't like being hassled and tend to stay clear of anything remotely private.

Now, if I am clearly being approached and accosted simply for firing the shutter I will stand up and defend my right to do so on public property no matter the consequence, but the line between what's private and public can be blurred at times, so I resist testing the waters.

Sometime I feel as if I am being complacent about how photographers are being harassed more and more these days but when in doubt I avoid the conflict.