Police Stop Journalists From Photographing Metrorail System 601
schwit1 writes with this excerpt from Reason.com:
"Carlos Miller, who runs the Photography Is Not a Crime blog, and veteran photojournalist Stretch Leford decided to test the photography rules in Miami-Dade's metrorail system. Before embarking on their test, they obtained written assurance from Metro Safety and Security Chief Eric Muntan that there's no law against non-commercial photography on the system. The two didn't make it past the first station before they were stopped. Employees of 50 State Security, the private firm contracted to provide the metro's security, stopped the pair first. They then called in local police. The private firm and the police then threatened the two with arrest, demanded their identification (to check them against a terrorist watch list), demanded multiple times that they stop filming, and eventually 'banned' Miller and Ledford from the metro system 'for life' (though it's doubtful they had the authority to do so)."
Re:It's the sun (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Look at it like an airport... (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly, a train can be far more massive than any airplane!
Imagine what would happen if terrorists took control of a train and flew it into a building!
It would be 911 times a hundred.
Afterall, if the pen is mightier than the sword and a picture is worth a thousand words, then a camera is a veritable weapon of mass destruction compared to a measly box cutter.
Poor confused journalists (Score:5, Funny)
Stopping pictures is only half the battle (Score:5, Funny)
The train gestapo must prevent passengers from writing down the names of the stops as well. If the terrorists ever get hold of such a list, they've won.
Re:Look at it like an airport... (Score:2, Funny)
Jesus !! .. 911 TIMES A HUNDRED !! .. thats like .. 91100 !!!
Re:Look at it like an airport... (Score:4, Funny)
It was a camera? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, sorry, it looked like an RPG to me...
Re:And if we stop no one.... we blame them.... (Score:4, Funny)
"The pen is mightier than the sword"
"A picture is worth a thousand words"
It's clear that a person with a camera is the equivalent of a thousand people with swords. We all know what happened when a legion of Rome came to town.
Re:Someone is about to get their ass sued off. (Score:3, Funny)
I always suspected you were here Hammer.
Re:Look at it like an airport... (Score:3, Funny)
Well, Mr Clever Man, DSLRs can have big lenses on them. How can you tell whether or not its got an RPG hidden inside it without stopping them and searching their cavities? ANSWER ME THAT!
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Most of the time the very worst thing that can happen to the cop himself is that he loses his job, though it's more typical for him to receive a free paid vacation for misconduct (paid suspension).
Bah. Everyone knows that the really big cases are solved only after the hero turns in his badge.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Just ask politely if you're under arrest.
You should ask politely if you are free to go. It's a better question to ask. It assumes goodwill. It assumes a positive outcome. And it doesn't give him any idea about arresting you, because for all you know, the cop does not know about the body in your trunk yet, he was only interested in helping you push your car out of the ditch.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:0, Funny)
There's not a cop on Earth who wants to admit he unnecessarily used force, as it would open up his department to liability and effectively end his career.>
That's cute, you think cops are accountable to our laws.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:4, Funny)
the last time I looked cops were still human.
That's a very generous assumption you are making!
Re:Working definition of a police state (Score:3, Funny)
To be fair, I believe these were merely security guards. Does this mean we're living in a "Security Guard State"? Sheesh.... we can't even form a Police State without mucking it up and outsourcing!
Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Funny)
Dexter, is it you?
Re:Then Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Then why did they take the hard copy of the email with them in the first place?
To test the limits of law enforcements stupidity.
Someday we might find that limit... I'm not hopeful though.