Tuesday,August,23,2005

Photography is NOT a Crime!

Some people have the mistaken idea that photography in public places is a threat to national security

I’m working on an essay that outlines the folly of attempting to ban photography in public places.

My argument is simple. A ban on photography is ineffective, unenforceable, and a violation of our rights as citizens.

Click the “more” link to see the first draft of this article.

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Photography is NOT a crime!

The Problem

Since when did wielding a camera become a threat, or even worse, a crime? Since September 11th 2001, that’s when. In response to the terrorist attacks on America, in a misguided attempt at security, every camera toting tourist, every photography student, and professional photojournalist has fallen under official suspicion.  The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority has twice tried to codify a ban on photography in the New York subway system. Thankfully reason and public outcry have prevailed and the attempt at banning photography has been abandoned for now . New Jersey is currently considering imposing onerous restrictions on photography of any part of their transit systems . Numerous other municipalities and agencies have also either put in place, or attempted to put in place restrictions on photography in public places. Other agencies (including BART) have labeled photography as a “suspicious activity”.  Even worse, and more troubling because of the harrassing, vigilante nature of it, many pseudo authorities, San Francisco Muni Transit Fare Inspectors included, have attempted to enforce a non-existent ban on photography. All in the name of “security”.

Keep in mind, this essay is specifically discussing attempts to ban photography in public places, not photography in restricted or private spaces.

Photography bans are ineffective

I don’t understand how a ban on photography in public places could possibly make us any more secure. I can only presume that some people feel that a terrorist, planning an attack, could use photographs to “case the joint” and aid in their planning.  This view is sadly mistaken and results in focusing official and unofficial attention, time and effort in the wrong direction. Yes, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but so is a sketch or a diagram.  I’ve yet to hear about any plans to outlaw sketching or sketchbooks, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it attempted. If information is being obtained for the purpose of planning an attack, the absence of photographs, or the banning of photography will have absolutely no impact on the information gathering. Regardless, as any good computer security pro will tell you, security by obscurity is no security at all, so if our security relies upon preventing photography in public places, we have much larger security issues to address.  I’d much rather have transportation workers looking for unattended packages or suspicious activity than wasting their time chasing around tourists with cameras. In fact citizen photographers have captured images that have led to the capture of criminals!

Photography bans are unenforceable

With the explosion of camera phones, very small pocket cameras, and PDAs that include cameras, not to mention lipstick and other “spy” cameras designed for covert photography and video taping, it would be extremely difficult to enforce a ban on photography. In the absence of intrusive personal searches, or a huge surveillance effort, discreet photography is very difficult to detect. Hence the only people that would be impacted by a ban on photography would be those honest people not making any attempt to conceal their photography. An enterprising terrorist would be unaffected, and unimpaired in his ability to capture images.

Photography bans are an intrusion upon our rights as citizens

The third major problem with attempts at criminalizing photography in public places is the chilling effect it would have on our civil liberties and right of freedom of expression. Photography is an art form that should not be squelched. Transportation is a huge part of our lives, and documenting this whether it be subway photos, or pictures of trains and airplanes, has a long history and tradition in this country Photography is also a large part of our modern news media and journalism.  Until recently, the rules for where and when photography is allowed have been pretty clear . In public places photography has been allowed. There have been some reasonable restrictions regarding photography in non-public places, like military installations, or semi-public places like court rooms etc.  These rules have been worked out over decades of court cases and other legal or administrative processes. The rules are fair and address and balance freedom of expression and freedom of the press with the need to restrict photography in certain situations.  Since September 11th, 2001 all anyone needs to do to justify trampling our rights is invoke “9/11”.  Once “9/11” has been invoked, in the case of photography in public places, all reason and logic are abandoned, and high-minded principles like freedom of expression or freedom of the press are ignored.

Summary

I don’t dispute that we as a country need to do what we can to protect ourselves from terrorist attacks. I am a pragmatist and understand that in some cases flexibility and compromise are required to make us more secure. However I’m not willing to give up some of our basic rights and compromise our civil liberties with regard to an ineffective, unenforceable ban on photography in public places. Show me some benefit, show me some proof that we could prevent terrorist attacks by prohibiting photography in public places, and I’m willing to debate the issue, but until then, I remain absolutely opposed to compromising on my rights as a citizen and a journalist in this great country. 

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