Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Tomgram: Peter Van Buren, Undue Process in Washington
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/tom-engelhardt/57124/tomgram-peter-van-buren-undue-process-in-washingtonTomgram: Peter Van Buren, Undue Process in Washington
Constitution, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties
by Tom Engelhardt | July 24, 2014 - 8:42am
What a world were in. Thanks to smartphones, iPads, and the like, everyone is now a photographer, but it turns out that, in the public landscape, theres ever less to photograph. So here are a few tips for living more comfortably in a photographically redacted version of our post-9/11 world.
Even if youre a professional photographer, dont try to take a picture of Korita Kents Rainbow Swash. Its one of the largest copyrighted pieces of art in the world, painted atop a 140-foot-high liquefied natural gas tower in Dorchester, Massachusetts. James Prigoff, a former senior vice president of the Sara Lee Corporation and a known photographer, tried to do so and was confronted by two security guards who stopped him. Later, though he left no information about himself and was in a rented car, he was tracked down by the FBI. Evidently he had been dumped into the governments Suspicious Activity Reporting program run by the Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security. (And when you end up on a list like that, we know that its always a living hell to get off it again.) He sums up his situation this way: So, consider this: A professional photographer taking a photo of a well-known Boston landmark is now considered to be engaged in suspicious terrorist activity?
And while youre at it, dont photograph the water tower in Farmers Branch, Texas (as professional photographer Allison Smith found out), or planes taxiing to takeoff at the Denver airport (if you have a Middle Eastern look to you), or that dangerous Welcome to Texas City sign (as Austin photographer Lance Rosenfield discovered when stopped by BP security guards and only let off after a stern lecture about terrorists and folks wandering around snapping photos), or even the police handcuffing someone on the street from your own front lawn (as Rochester, New York, neighborhood activist Emily Good was doing when the police cuffed and arrested her for the criminal misdemeanor of obstructing governmental administration).
The ACLU has just launched a suit challenging that Suspicious Activity Reporting database, claiming quite correctly -- as Linda Lye, one of their lawyers, puts it -- that the problem with the suspicious-activity reporting program is that it sweeps up innocent Americans who have done nothing more than engage in innocent, everyday activity, like buying laptops or playing video games. It encourages racial and religious profiling, and targets constitutionally protected activity like photography.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
1 replies, 629 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (0)
ReplyReply to this post
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Tomgram: Peter Van Buren, Undue Process in Washington (Original Post)
unhappycamper
Jul 2014
OP
newfie11
(8,159 posts)1. All those tourists on the SD/WY state line
Better watch out. Pictures with the state signs might get you on a watch list.