fyi-Photographer's rights

[Photogdude]

Know Your Rights: Photographers | American Civil Liberties Union

[duronboy]

Sure, we have rights. Sure, you're probably going to win in court when those rights are ignored by police. But, they WILL be ignored by police. Because they can. So, good luck with those rights.

[pavi]

Ever read the Houston Chronicle. Care to guess how much the brothers got when their rights were violated. I have their lawyer on speed dial.

[RexGig]

Some of us badge guys are quite used to being photographed and videotaped, and have known all along that anything visible from a public place is subject to being recorded, both images and sound, in Texas. As the linked site indicated, recording of conversations is not yet so clearly legal in some jurisdictions outside Texas, generally due to old wiretap laws. The belief that a person must receive permission before recording an image is not unique to police; plenty of folks have called police to report that someone has taken photographs without permission. Some of those reportees have expected the police to seize the camera and delete the images or take the memory, videotape, or film.

[auddii]

Originally Posted by RexGig

Some of us badge guys are quite used to being photographed and videotaped, and have known all along that anything visible from a public place is subject to being recorded, both images and sound, in Texas. As the linked site indicated, recording of conversations is not yet so clearly legal in some jurisdictions outside Texas, generally due to old wiretap laws. The belief that a person must receive permission before recording an image is not unique to police; plenty of folks have called police to report that someone has taken photographs without permission. Some of those reportees have expected the police to seize the camera and delete the images or take the memory, videotape, or film.

I did find out you have to delete photos if you take pictures of security measures in the airports. My friend got stuck and had to be "wanded", so I took a photo. Security asked me to delete it because we couldn't take pictures of security. I'm curious how many movies have been made that have shown the TSA wanding people?!

[RexGig]

Originally Posted by auddii

I did find out you have to delete photos if you take pictures of security measures in the airports. My friend got stuck and had to be "wanded", so I took a photo. Security asked me to delete it because we couldn't take pictures of security. I'm curious how many movies have been made that have shown the TSA wanding people?!

TSA asked you to delete the images, but (speaking from the civil libertarian standpoint,) would they have exceeded their authority had they forced you to delete the images, or had they seized your memory card or camera? Probably so...

Post-9-11-01 security guidelines are full of pronouncements that violate the Constitutional rights of the individual, if the government goes beyond asking, and forces/seizes/etc. The thinking police officer/agent/security person will filter these guidelines through the Constitution, and decide which document carries
the most weight. I am not sure whether Constitutional law Is taught to TSA trainees; they may know only what TSA policies say.

Of course, refusing to comply with a request to delete images might well result in being detained, and worse. Civil disobedience does have its consequences,
starting with missing one's flight.

I will now stop rambling, and have more caffeine; I am making too many typos.

[Richard_B]

Originally Posted by RexGig

Some of us badge guys are quite used to being photographed and videotaped, and have known all along that anything visible from a public place is subject to being recorded, both images and sound, in Texas. As the linked site indicated, recording of conversations is not yet so clearly legal in some jurisdictions outside Texas, generally due to old wiretap laws. The belief that a person must receive permission before recording an image is not unique to police; plenty of folks have called police to report that someone has taken photographs without permission. Some of those reportees have expected the police to seize the camera and delete the images or take the memory, videotape, or film.

What strikes me as odd about this whole situation is that the overwhelming majority of Peace Officers are just trying to do their job and, frankly, should be happy to have people see that and document what they are doing.

Sure there are some situations in which editing/cropping an image can give a different impression, but the ones who protest too much simply serve to make the public suspicious about just what they are trying to hide.