Some ass-face with a small penis took offense to having his photo taken at the House of Blues, and decided to confiscate the camera and use it to beat up the photographer. A young lady, half his size. It turns out, this ass-face was an off-duty employee of HOB… and he was assisted by two other HOB employees.

The neaderthal who beat up the young lady was arrested. House of Blues has suspended the three employees without pay while they “investigate the fight”. But come on, folks… there’s not much to investigate. The fucking gorilla did something stupid, and instead of admitting it was stupid and apologizing, he allowed his pride to escalate the issue until it got completely out of hand. All of these men (and I use that term loosely) should be fired.

Of course obscene situations like this would not happen if our country weren’t promoting some kind of propaganda war against photography. Photography is not a crime. This bullshit needs to stop.

In the latest update on the false criminalization of photography, Boing Boing has obtained the Department of Homeland Insecurity’s guidelines on photography.

Also, enjoy the DOT’s response to the ACLU over harassment of photographers.

I’m getting really tired of seeing this stuff. Tourists, doing tourist things in tourist places are not allowed to be tourists any more. Even in Disneyland:

Just as I took this photo, however, a Security Cast Member in a patrol unit approached me (well, he stopped a ways away and shouted through a rolled-down window) and told me photography was not permitted there. Since that statement didn’t make any sense, my first reaction was to question why that was. As I evaluated the possible responses, I thought “security” or “because I said so” would be what I’d get, so I complied and continued walking. I brought this up to appropriate people, who agreed there is no blanket prohibition of photography there.

Seriously, what’s the harm in a photo? As a photographer, I understand the rules about having a signed release if you plan to print your photo for profit. But that has no bearing whatsoever on taking a photo for personal use, nor even to be printed and distributed in a documentary context.

People need to be aware of their rights when holding a camera. It is not okay for Big Brother to push people around, even in the name of anti-terrorism. Nor is it okay for ignorant security personnel to make up the rules as they go.

What complete and utter idiocy, that people have demonized the act of taking a photo. In the latest example, security at London’s Spitalfields market made an attempt to forcefully delete photos taken by a patron of the market.

Here in London, you get photographed upwards of 300 times a day, by every junior sneak, pecksniff, and petty CCTV operator who can afford a cheap little camera. The cameras often fail to help catch criminals, and they certainly don’t deter desperate muggers and junkies and stupid drunken kids. All the law seems to require by way of consumer protection is a sign saying, “You’re being filmed.”

You can be photographed again and again, but heaven help you if you take a picture back. Your person isn’t deserving of any serious privacy protection, but buildings, t-shirts, shop-windows, and market stalls are all entitled to unlimited protection from having their precious photons stolen.

It really bothers me to no end. Seriously. I would like to know exactly what devious mischief they think is going to come about from someone taking a photograph.

Or perhaps it’s not so much that they fear the patrons committing the mischief, but perhaps that there is some bigger mischief already afoot, which they wish to prevent people from capturing. Kinda makes the mind wander…

Tuesday marked the beginning of a new year, and that means new regulations. Yes, our friends in the government have stepped up their vigilance in the war against photography – er, I mean terror. Starting with the beginning of this year, they won’t allow you to bring spare lithium batteries on your plane. Naturally, they don’t say why. So if you’re flying out to do some photography, you’d better make sure it can all be done on one battery.

Last September, Scott Kelby wrote about his experience in Minneapolis/St. Paul where TSA agents made him remove his DSLR camera from his camera bag and place it on the scanning belt separately, the way that you have to with laptops. Then they dusted his camera bag for explosives! They claimed this was part of a new policy instated in August which few airports have actually implemented. (Sounds like bullshit to me.)

It all kind of makes you wonder if some property of the lithium batteries doesn’t react well to the new security scanners. I wouldn’t be surprised if the batteries had a characteristic that prevented the scanners from seeing behind them, making them some sort of camouflage for other forbidden materials. I may just have to find myself a lithium battery from somewhere and take it with me next time I fly, just to see if they actually even notice.

I recently read an item in the Photoethnography blog pointing to a New York Daily News article reporting that the MTA has a secret film file on photographers.

If this is true, this is very disturbing. Both amateur and professional photographers are being turned into modern day boogeypeople. And when a terrorist incident happens, what do the authorities want? They want people to send them their tourist snapshots so that they can try to see if they can spot the bad guys before the act. Argh!!

Just a quick civil liberty note: You do not have to hand your film over to any one in uniform just because they ask for it. You can do so voluntarily if you want. If they try to force you to hand it over, then do so (refusing would be bad) but ask them under what authority they are requesting it, ask for a receipt and be sure to follow up. Even if you were breaking the law, they would still have to issue a receipt for the evidence that they are taking into custody. Sigh….

This disturbs me too. Mainly, I despise how easy it has been to turn anyone with a camera into a suspicious person. And it’s not as if they’re suspicious of everyone who photographs things, just those with video cameras or high-end still cameras. That means that a terrorist with a 5-megapixel cameraphone can do all the reconnaissance he wants without interruption, and now he’ll feel safer doing it because the authorities will be busy harrassing me.