click here to return to the Calico Cat homepage

Ban on photography in the subways: every day we become more of a police state

Dumb news out of New York City:

Transit officials on Thursday proposed banning photography on subways and buses for their more than 7 million daily riders to deter terrorists from conducting surveillance of the nation's largest mass transit system.

1010 WINS: Transit Officials Propose Photography Ban

Dumb news, but scary. Our nation is turning into a police state because of unreasonable fears of terrorism. If terrorists wanted to put bombs in the subways, will this anti-photography rule have the least effect on their plans? Has their ever been a terrorism incident that involved the terrorists taking pictures? Do any of these unnamed "transit officials" have any kind of explanation as to how this ban would actually deter terrorists from doing anything nefarious?

Given how small digital cameras are these days, a real terrorist could easily take photos anywhere without being noticed. A guy looking at his cell phone or PDA might be surreptitiously taking photos. This ban would only prevent law abiding citizens from taking photos in a public place, which should be our right in a democracy.

the ban on photography and videotaping would not apply to journalists with valid ID cards

Only journalists certified by the government are allowed to take pictures. Bloggers and other citizens doing research are not allowed. It sounds more like the former Soviet Union than the United States.

The craziness isn't limited to the United States. Out of Canada:

Shanake Seneviratne, 20, was photographing buses and metro cars at the Sauve station that afternoon when he was stopped by transit cops and charged with impeding the flow of traffic inside a station.

. . .

Seneviratne was handcuffed, placed in a cruiser, read his rights and was told he was "a threat to national security" as he was taken to the police department's northern operations centre.

Montral Gazette: 'National security threat' just taking photos of metro

It turns out that the kid was just a college student who was doing research on public transportation for some urban planning professors. You would think that the cops in Montreal would be less facist than the ones here in the States, but I guess not.

PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS ARE NOT TERRORISTS!!!!!!

posted Thursday, May 20, 2004

0 Comments: