Protest the proposed MTA photo ban--Dec. 18, 2004

[Flotsam]

It also recalled scenes I had read about from people that visited the USSR and other eastern-bloc countries before the downfall of the commie system.

This has occurred to me also. Years ago, I would hear the stories of people who traveled to the Soviet Union, who had taken a seemingly innocuous picture out the window of a train only to be set upon by the secret police, subjected to questioning and have their film confiscated. Back then it seemed so foreign and oppressive.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Generally, in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, it was illegal to photograph in a train or train station, a police station or military installation.

 

[johnnywalker]

I was in northern China a few years ago, along the Amur River where it forms the border with Russia. I had a camera, another fellow a camcorder. It was a beautiful place and I took a lot of pictures. The fellow with the camcorder had some of the scenes on his tape erased by the police, later in the day after we had returned to the hotel. Pictures of a small unmanned sentry post (wooden, about 3 m high) left over from the days of tension between Russia and China. The police were very polite and apologetic and only erased the tape where the sentry post showed up. I had pictures of the same thing, but they never bothered me. The confusing part was the sentry post had no military value, at least that we could see. Other stuff, like old gun emplacements, they didn't care about, neither a nearby dam that one would think would be of some strategic importance.
I suspect they knew what they were doing was of no value, but if asked by a superior they could say they did something.

 

[Dave Wooten]

I wonder if there is going to be a permit process i.e. like there is in some of the parks now if you set of large format equipment? 40" of bellows could house a grenade launcher I guess, or you could just carry it in your golf bag.

I know military can enact photo restrictions on bridges and certain structures etc. This has not been done, even here in Vegas with several military jet crashes this year and most recent last weeks Raptor crash--

I feel the protest was and is in order, I feel the prohibition of photography in any public place is a basic rights infringement.

I agree with David-the info is available in shops and even online and in news photo files....what is next, search and seizure of books and literature portraying the "forbidden"

 

[Leicadave]

So where's this issue now that the MTA is putting the restrictions in force? I've photographed in Moscow extensively in the last year without a problem though the "organs" operate again there. But in NYC we're adopting the worst paranoia of the Soivet period...
Saw a protest against the police state on Union Square yesterday but what's up with the subway issue....?

Dave

 

[g0tr00t]

Photographers are not the enemy.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Hard to say what next. _New York_ magazine is running a piece on it in the not too distant future. Cops we met in the subway during the protest didn't seem too enthusiastic about enforcing the rule.

 

[Helen B]

I wonder if the MTA are considering a bonfire ban?

Or maybe the guy had a bonfire permit. Anyway, it's reassuring to know that security is tight and that the MTA are on the ball.

Best,
Helen

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

No doubt he was using flash powder.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Looks like the MTA has come to its senses--

May 22, 2005
NYC Abandons Plan to Ban Subway Photography
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:09 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- A proposal to ban cameras in subways to prevent terrorism has been dropped by police and transit officials. The move comes a year after city transit officials came up with the idea to forbid photography, videotaping and filming in subway stations.

The New York Daily News reported in Sunday's editions that police and transit officials said a ban is not needed to secure the nation's largest mass transit system.

''Our officers will continue to investigate and intercede if necessary, if the activity -- photo-related or not -- is suspicious,'' police spokesman Paul Browne told the paper.

The proposal by NYC Transit, a division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, had been criticized as too far-reaching by civil libertarians, photographers and some city officials.

Score one for our side.

 

[rhphoto]

This is good news.

Our borders leak like screendoors on a submarine, we have god knows how many thousand miles of unpatrolled coastline, and the brains at Homeland Security think picture-snapping in public places will bring down the republic. It's all such a big farce. Gotta look at it as entertainment, or you'll go nuts.

 

[jd callow]

I think we should credit David and give him a heart felt pat on the back for a job well done.

 

[Alex Hawley]

Democracy at work - I love it.

 

[gr82bart]

What's the world coming to when common sense prevails in politics?

Art.