I will raise another issue related to hospitals: patient privacy. I walked on to the grounds of a nearby hospital one day with a camera on a tripod, and by the time I had all three legs on the ground there was security guard by my side saying that I couldn't take photos. I asked him why, and he said it was to protect patient's privacy. I said that I was not including any people in the shot. He said that the hospital was erring on the patient's side, and he gave me the name and number of someone to call to discuss access for photography.
All very nice and polite on his part. Having recently been involved with the US Census and going into hospitals and other facilities, I had been cued in to the amount of attention paid to this issue at such places. I think the law is referred to as HIPAA?
So, there is a chance that the camera was responded to on this basis. In my reading of your letter, you were on the hospital grounds when asked not to photograph, although still outside their 'secured' zone. Expecting a guard to determine dry firing, etc., is not reasonable. To protect patient's privacy, the blanket policy is 'no cameras.'
A simple follow-up call to the director of facilities or such should answer this.
No, still bad. Do you not loathe when white kids refuse to learn how to read?IAbout the I LOATHE WHEN BLACK KIDS.. let me neatly clarify that some of us should not be jumping to conclusions about racism. The BALANCE of that statement was....REFUSE TO LEARN HOW TO READ PROPERLY. TUTORING AVAILABLE (and then I give my contact info). Not really so bad, right?
Maybe it needed to be said in a pub on Friday night, but not in a letter to the FBI. And please try to resist the urge to label anyone who thinks you coud have handled it differently. I'm not law enforcement or a "patriot type"; in fact, I'm all for photographers being able to exercise their rights without having to traverse the chain of command first, but your letter does nothing to help.Long winded letter? I was never accused of being frugal with prolixity but the letter said things that HAD to be said and if I offended any LAW ENFORCEMENT or PATRIOT types I apolgize for the sensitivity issue but cannot retract what NEEDED to be said. 'Nuff said.
I really don't care how well endowed you are, and you really haven't made any point at all.If David Lyga is 'hung' at least he made his desperate point! - David Lyga
I believe that you will want to address your letter to the Department of Defense, as DoD is responsible for security at VA facilities.
If David Lyga is 'hung' at least he made his desperate point! - David Lyga
If you are on public property, you can photograph anything you can see, regardless if it is on public or private property. The only exceptions to this are certain "sensitive" installations. These are usually posted as such, and are usually "top secret" military installations and the ilk...
Even on ship when I was in the Navy (yeah, back when Moby Dick was a guppy) if non-secure visitors came aboard there were specific items covered, and there were covers specifically for that purpose. It wasn't left to chance.
While it is correct that the secret military installations do have an exemption about being photographed, the fact of the matter is that I have never in my life seen anything the military classified as secret that was even close to publicly viewable.
Even on ship when I was in the Navy (yeah, back when Moby Dick was a guppy) if non-secure visitors came aboard there were specific items covered, and there were covers specifically for that purpose. It wasn't left to chance.
So, while you aren't allowed to photograph "secret" things, you cannot mistakenly do so because you'll never see them publicly anyway.
But the USA has a mindset that revels in a 'kick ass mentality' (sports or real life) and common courtesy is too often relegated to a trait we culturally define as 'weakness' or ineffectiveness.
They had laptops when you were a boyscout??
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