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Category Archives: Press Freedom
Top Ten Things NOT Safe To Photograph
Wow did this guy have a stroke of bad luck. Fotolia CEO Detained by Police for Taking Pictures
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
- Underground/Tube/Buses
- Refineries or other Industrial plant
- Police
- Government buildings
- Bridges
- Tunnels
- Shopping malls
- Airports
- Office Buildings
- Houses
Have I missed any?
Technorati Tags: photography, law, terrorism, police, rights, news, tips
Pulitzer Winning AP Photographer Detained by US Without Hearing or Charges
Associated Press says one of their photographers has been detained for five months by the US military without hearing or charges. The photographer was part of a team that won a Pulitzer last year.
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
The War on Photographers
PopPhoto has a great article on photographers falling foul of the police and security guards for taking pictures called The War on Photographers
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
Photography and the Law: Arrested for snapping a Policeman
Yet another worrying event in the ongoing “law versus photographer” trend. The latest reported by Thomas Hawk is a guy who was arrested for taking a photograph of a policeman making an arrest …
Cruz, 21, told the NBC 10 Investigators that police arrested him last Wednesday for taking a picture of police activity with his cell phone. Cruz said police told him that he broke a new law that prohibits people from taking pictures of police with cell phones. “They threatened to charge me with conspiracy, impeding an investigation, obstruction of a investigation. … They said, ‘You were impeding this investigation.’ (I asked,) “By doing what?’ (The officer said,) ‘By taking a picture of the police officers with a camera phone,’” Cruz said. Cruz’s parents, who got him out of jail, said police told them the same thing.”
This is very worrying, society needs to know that the Police are accountable and that means the ability for a citizen to make documentary evidence. I just hope it is a one-off bad judgment by an individual police officer and not policy.
Technorati Tags: photography, law, news
Photography Boycott of Robbie Williams
As if you needed one, another reason to dislike Robbie Williams …
German Newspaper Puts Photography Boycott On Robbie Williams
On this place we wanted to print a picture of the Robbie Williams´concert. But we had to refuse to do so. The singer´s management wanted to constrain the photopraphers´ work by an adhesion contract which is unacceptable to us. The local chapter of the German Association of Journalist in Saxony called the restrictions a “flagrant example of an immoral contract” and appealed for a photo boycott. The Dresdner Neue Nachrichten follows to this appeal and will only publish a review in the edition of July 12, 2006.”
The contract which is given to photographers rules that all photographs are property of Robbie Williams and almost all copyright and authors rights are conceded to him, so there is practically not much use left.
OK, I was kidding (a bit) with that first line, it is probably over-protective management, record company and/or legal team at work here. It does raise an interesting issue though, who should own the rights to your own face? The raw material is yours but the “art” or intellectual property is the photographers …
photographer, legal, rights, news, photography
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Another Victory in the UK War on Photography
Street photography is safe and legal in a public, outdoor space in the UK, right? Right? Um … check out this tale of brave and intelligent security guarding on Flickr
I for one am proud of our brave security
goonsofficers for theirignorancevigilance inabusingprotecting 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.