Category: Access & Censorship

As more than 1500 photographers are expected to gather in Trafalgar Square tomorrow, I thought it would be interesting to contact a few of the authorities that are responsible for policing the square.
First up was the Squares Management team at the Greater London Authority. It manages both Trafalgar Square and also Parliament Square. After being put on hold, a member of the team told BJP that Greater London Authority was unaware of the ‘gathering’ as it as ‘not an authorised event.’

Link: 1854, the blog of the British Journal of Photography

The reason was because the image showed Arenas at a game, pretending to shoot some teammates. They were laughing. But now that Arenas has been suspended indefinitely for allegedly pulling out a real gun during a locker room dispute, the image presents a publicity problem for the NBA.

Link: PDNPulse: Money Talks: Getty Salutes NBA Order to Take Down Photo

Great to see a newspaper fighting for its rights, especially when so many news organizations are just fighting for their survival.  John Tully, a photographer for the Midland Daily News in Midland, Michigan, USA, was standing on a public roadway while covering a breaking fire at a Dow Corning (wiki) plant when he was approached first by Dow Corning security personnel and then by Midland Police officers at the end of October, 2009.

Link: Police/companies cannot confiscate cameras for “homeland security” issues | dvafoto

I was disappointed to see a post from my friend Andertho on Flickr this morning regarding a photography ban that is in place at the Exhibition Hall of the Capitol Vistor Center in Washington DC. Of all places that ought to allow photography, Government (remember that old “by the people, for the people thingy?) ought to be the most open of all.

Link: Washington DC’s Capitol Visitor Center and Their Crappy “No Photography” Policy | Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

Yo dawg, I heard you like TSA security restrictions, so I put some security restrictions on top of your security restrictions

(Image: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, at far left, in a photo from his Facebook profile, via NYT.) Update: See related post here, with discussion of how TSA directives may affect in-flight internet an…

via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/26/yo-dawg-i-heard-you.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

POV: New Luggage Rules For Photogs?

travel photographer

Link: http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2009/12/pov-new-luggage-rules-for-photogs.html

Link: The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Their Crappy No Photography Policy | Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

It turns out that the situation is hardly clear at this point and after 3 Months we still have no idea if photos are allowed as originally suggested by Orr or not. What we do have are a series of week after week after week non-answers coming back from Starbucks marketing. Below are all of the responses filtered out from Starbucks which read like typical corporate doublespeak and delay tactics, with no official answer from Starbucks and no official answer anywhere near in sight

Link: Ok, So What’s the Deal? Can You or Can You Not Take Photos Inside of Starbucks? | Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

another fine example of police officers overreaching to justify trying to prohibit a legal activity

Link: NYC Cop Harasses Photog, Claims “Frozen Zone” «

The first (and only) time I went to the New Museum, and of course I was snapping some photos with my little digital camera (mind you, not of the utterly forgettable art on display, but of the building). A “security” guard approached me and told me “You can’t take pictures here,” and I almost responded “Oh yeah? I just did.”

Link: “You can’t take pictures here” – Conscientious