Bruce Schneier has a good piece at the The Guardian about the ridiculous War on Photography. Ever since 9/11, people taking photographs of buildings, bridges, train stations, or just about any public space are viewed suspiciously. Photographers–amateur or professional–are often questioned and harassed by police and private security personnel; told to leave, forced to delete digital photos, or even arrested, although there is no legal basis for forbidding photography in public, in the US or the UK.
And it’s totally pointless anyway:
The 9/11 terrorists didn’t photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn’t photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn’t photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Photographs aren’t being found amongst the papers of Palestinian suicide bombers. The IRA wasn’t known for its photography. Even those manufactured terrorist plots that the US government likes to talk about — the Ft. Dix terrorists, the JFK airport bombers, the Miami 7, the Lackawanna 6 — no photography.
This is something that really bothers me, although luckily it isn’t something that’s affected me personally (yet), because I literally never leave the house without my camera. It’s always in its own pocket inside of my beat-up old leather backpack, along with spare batteries. You never know when you’ll need it; you could just be running down to the corner store for milk and see something amazing.
