Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are outraged by the two-year sentence passed today on Ein Khaing Oo, a 24-year-old woman journalist employed by the weekly Ecovision Journal, for taking photos of Cyclone Nargis victims. She was arrest in Rangoon last June.

“This unjust sentence comes amid a wave of unprecedented sentences for journalists and activists,” the two organisations said. “We appeal to Burma’s military authorities to free Ein Khaing Oo, whose only crime was to cover the humanitarian disaster in the Irrawaddy delta.”

This is an insane story. Hot on the heels of the UK cracking down on cops harassing photographers for doing nothing wrong, there are countries which take this stuff to the extreme. And it just keeps getting worse too.

Another journalist, Zaw Thet Htwe, and a blogger, Zarganar, are also being held for helping Nargis victims.

Not only does this sort of thing show a complete lack of respect for humans rights (among other things), there really isn’t much that can be done from the outside beyond pushing for political pressure.

There have been so many such arrests in Burma that there has been a website created to be a central source of information about the victims of these arrests, protests, petitions, etc. You can find that at www.fbppn.net.

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Oh dear.

Then Middlesborough police want a word with you …

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According to ‘Amateur Photographer‘, the UK government is set to release a set of specific guidelines and reminders for police policy in regards to photography, which will, among other things, contain the following…

 ’There is no power under the Terrorism Act to prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place. 

If officers reasonably suspect that photographs are being taken as part of hostile terrorist reconnaissance then they should act appropriately, by searching the person under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act or making an arrest. Cameras, film and memory cards may be seized as evidence but there is no power for images to be deleted or film destroyed by officers.’ 

At least, that’s in the draft version. It’s yet to be determined what exactly will make the final cut.

It’s interesting to see the UK government attempting a bit of a proactive aproach with this, though it would be nice if the police could be expected to know how to deal with such things without a written reminder not to abuse their power. If only the US (and to a slightly smaller degree Canada) would at least attempt to deal with the legal issues surrounding the police harassing photographers (and other such people whom they consider a good target for undue harassment).

I once had a run-in with a police officer regarding my taking photos near where he was walking around in Ottawa, and thankfully it didn’t amount to anything other than a few choice words and explaining that I knew my rights and such (which sadly is the case for far too few people these days), and that was that. It could have been far worse.

Anyone have any stories about undue police harassment because of your photography? I’ve heard too many to count, but it’s always interesting to hear just how crazy the world can be sometimes….even if it tends to be high on the “Orwell, 1984″ meter from time to time.

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A Gloucester bus-spotter (“omnibologist”) is being forced to abandon his 40-year-old hobby of snapping pictures of busses and trams because security kooks keep calling him a terrorist and even a pedophile.

The sad thing is none of us should be surprised any longer. More from Yahoo! News UK

His love affair with buses has seen him touring former Eastern Bloc countries – but only in the UK has he been accused of doing anything dubious.

Last September in Pontypridd, Wales, a bus driver took exception to being caught in shot and called the police, who demanded to see what Mr McCaffrey had on film.

Later, in Monmouth, a Police Community Support Officers approached him and ran his name and address through the police database, after a member of the public became suspicious.

…

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Regardless of the law, it seems more and more photographers and film makers are going to get stopped and hassled for photography in public places. Check out this excellent video.

You Can’t Picture This // Current

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Tourist or Terrorist?

Many would assume the men are tourists taking in the city’s sights, but law enforcement officials say they could be terrorists staking out possible targets.

The scenarios were described at an anti-terrorism town hall meeting last week hosted by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. The meeting, held at Cordova’s First Assembly of God Church, was one of four public meetings that occurred in conjunction with Operation Sudden Impact, a new local anti-terrorism initiative.

“You may think a guy is just shooting pictures, but if you report it to us, we’ll send it on to the FBI and they may have four or five other reports of the same thing,” said Richard Pillsbury with the Tennessee Fusion Center, a collaboration between the Department of Safety and the Department of Homeland Security.

Is it just me or is this asking for trouble? Rather than working on reports of actual suspicious activity (setting off alarms is mentioned later, surely that is a bigger sign?), they will be inundated with calls about families snapping vacation shots?

More worrying, with the “war on fluids”, can you imagine what might happen if you are spotted with a DSLR and are supping from a liquid container greater than 20ml?

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Two security guards from the nearby shopping center THE MALL came running over, we were surrounded by six hostile and aggressive security guards. They then said photographing shops was illegal and this was private land. I was angry at being grabbed by this man so i pushed him away, one of the men wearing a BARGAIN MADNESS shirt twisted my arm violently behind my back, i winced in pain and could hardly breathe in agony.
A policewomen was radioed and came over to question the two suspects ( the total detaining us had risen to seven, a large crowd had now gathered)

I for one am proud of our brave security goons officers for their ignorance vigilance in abusing protecting our citizens from the horrors of photography.

Read the full horror on the flickr page, and see what one of these asshat security dudes looks like.

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Early afternoon in Paris today, Fotolia CEO Thibaud Elziere was out for a walk and testing the new Nikon D80 digital camera. However, one image would change the rest of his day.Walking down the Rue Vaneau in Paris, Thibaud captured an image of a CCTV camera [...] Within minutes, Thibaud was approached by the French Police and detained for the better part of the day.

Unknown to Thibaud he had captured the CCTV camera of the French Prime Minister’s personal residence and caused a great security concern. According to Thibaud, there were no signs or warnings about photography in the area. A simple click and his day was ruined.

The police questioned him about what he was doing in the area, if he had any terrorism connections, about his work, and why he would want to take a picture of a CCTV camera. Thibaud relates that his first answer of “taking pictures for fun” did not satisfy them. He soon outlined his connection with Fotolia and testing the camera. After 8 hours of questioning and background checks, they returned his camera and escorted him home.

It seems from what I read in the article this could have happened to any one of us. You take a picture of a building, for whatever reason, next thing you know you are being questioned by policemen about if you have any terrorist connections. What can you do, stop taking pictures of houses?

We are increasingly being warned not to take pictures of anything (or anyone) which might be construed by the paranoid as a terrorist threat but how was he supposed to know this was the home of someone important without any signs or notices. Just CCTV present does not necessarily imply that the resident is someone of national or defense importance, the guy might have an expensive car etc.

So now we have a new entry in the top ten things you can’t safely photograph

1. Underground/Tube/Buses
2. Refineries or other Industrial plant
3. Police
4. Government buildings
5. Bridges
6. Tunnels
7. Shopping malls
8. Airports
9. Office Buildings
10. Houses

Have I missed any?

Technorati Tags: photography, law, terrorism, police, rights, news, tips

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More at Wired News

The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned an Associated Press photographer for five months, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing.

Military officials said Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, was being held for “imperative reasons of security” under United Nations resolutions. AP executives said the news cooperative’s review of Hussein’s work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system.

Hussein, 35, is a native of Fallujah who began work for the AP in September 2004. He photographed events in Fallujah and Ramadi until he was detained on April 12 of this year.

“We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable,” said Tom Curley, AP’s president and chief executive officer.

Source:Richard’s Notes

Obviously there are two sides to this story but you would have thought if there was any evidence against this chap then something would have been done in those 5 months. It is a sorry time when just the accusation of “terrorism” is enough to lock someone up for months on end without even a passing wiff of any legal movement.

It seems the allegations are about his associations. I knew a policeman who had informants in the criminal underbelly of the city where he worked. There are also long histories of journalists getting friendly with criminals to uncover big stories. Could be this is the case here. Could also be of course that the AP were duped and he really is a terrorist, they do say they knew very little of him before working with the guy.

Either way though, just an allegation really ought to not be enough?

With any big story like Iraq it is important to get good, accurate reporting and images that aim to tell as true a story as possible. Actions like this could cause a chilling effect on photographers getting involved.

Technorati Tags: journalism, photography, iraq, associated, press, photographer, news

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amateur and professional photographers all over the country are being stopped and harassed with no legal basis. As digital cameras proliferate wildly, so do attempts to restrict what you can shoot and how you can use the picture. And not all attempts to quash photography have to do with national security concerns. Some invoke copyright and trademark protection, others the privacy both of celebrities and ordinary people. But you can fight back. Knowing your rights and restrictions as a photographer is a good first step. When cases reach the point of legal proceedings, they’re usually settled in the photographer’s favor, according to lawyers who have represented photographers in court. However, sometimes your own understanding of the law isn’t enough. According to his suit, when Jim McKinniss told the police officers that he was on public property and thought it was legal to photograph, “One of the officers asked if [I] had heard about September 11 and asserted that, since the terrorist attacks…it was illegal to photograph bridges, airports, and refineries.”

This is a crock. There’s no law in California or anywhere else in the U.S. that prohibits shooting such places from a public locale. You can even photograph inside airports, if you don’t point your camera at security checkpoints.

“These laws just don’t exist,” explains McKinniss’s attorney, Robert Myers, who took his case pro bono. “A law that attempts to prohibit photography from places open to the general public would be unconstitutional.”

The piece features some great, quite scary, stories plus some tips on how to handle the situation if it ever happens to you.

Technorati Tags: photography, law, tips, news

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