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Police Restrict Public Photography

An anonymous reader writes "News.com is reporting that in Australia, recent attempts by a photo club to take pictures of industrial installations was met with police resistance. From the article: 'Club member Hans Kawitski was told not to photograph industrial installations and was ordered to inform members of the camera club to follow his lead. Liberty Victoria said its advice to photographers would be to ignore the directive. "The police have got no place making such warnings," president Brian Walters SC said.'"

17 of 490 comments (clear)

  1. If this doesn't work.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Club member Hans Kawitski was told not to photograph industrial installations and was ordered to inform members of the camera club to follow his lead.

    They should just stick to the upskirt pics. That's not illegal in most places.

    1. Re:If this doesn't work.... by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 4, Funny

      Too bad there is no +5 ironic.... But basicly what you are saying is that public pics are illegal, while pubic pics are okay?

      --
      And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
    2. Re:If this doesn't work.... by sapped · · Score: 2, Funny

      But basicly what you are saying is that public pics are illegal, while pubic pics are okay?

      Of course! There is one 'ell of a difference between public photos and pubic photos.

  2. I need more by slashmojo · · Score: 5, Funny
    coffee before my morning slashdot.. I thought that said 'police restrict pubic photography'

    Not sure which makes more sense though.

  3. a good thing by jesterpilot · · Score: 5, Funny

    We've got to stop and ask ourselves 'How many photographs do we need?'

    --
    Trust me, I work for the government.
  4. math is your friend by misanthrope101 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Yeah, the ACLU is so inconsistent it drives me nuts. I worked with a guy who said that he didn't respect the ACLU, because they were so selective with what parts of the Constitution they suppored. He was a card-carrying member of the NRA, however. So we did a little math exercise. Here's a word problem:

    If the ACLU supports all of the Constitution but the 2nd Amendment, that means they support only 9/10 of the Bill of Rights. How deplorable! The NRA supports the 2nd Amendment zealously, and in my opinion, rightly. The math question for the day is this -- which number is bigger, 9/10 or 1/10? So gun-nuts, who habitually hate the ACLU, are a whopping 1/9th (.1 vs .9) as supportive of the Bill of Rights as those America-hating ACLU-weenies, but that makes them more patriotic? Isn't that a bit odd? Or is my math wrong here?

    I had a great time with this, since this co-worker cast himself as such a patriot. I wrote the numbers 1/10 and 9/10 on a piece of paper and went around the office asking people at random which number was bigger. I was scratching my head, muttering "but that can't be right...." He wasn't too amused.

    Moral: if you like guns, just say that you like guns. Don't try to pretend that it's because of your fealty to the Consitution. This especially applies if you happen to be a quasi-totalitarian in all other aspects of your politics.

  5. Re:A little sensationalist by Aussie · · Score: 4, Funny

    You've never been warned by an Australian copper, have you ?

  6. Re:There is a solution by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Funny
    I read in Amateur Photographer that the solution is to wear a high visibility vest or jacket, the kind that workmen or emergency services people wear. One chap said since he started wearing one while photographing he hasn't been stopped by anyone - I guess because he looks "official" :-)

    Brethren! This is a wonderful idea! If we make our bomb jackets fluorescent yellow, and wear hard hats, nobody will ever stop us! We'll look just like official workmen and will be able to walk right up to crucial pieces of infrastructure and gloriously destroy them for the Sheikh Osama and the New Caliphate! It is a wonderful day for the Jihad! Alahuakbar! Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo!

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  7. What I would do... by tuomas_kaikkonen · · Score: 2, Funny
    If you are not sure is it OK to take a picture inside or of a building, and if there is any police or security personnel present, you could ask them to take the picture for you. That is what I usally do. Most of the time the security/police officer is more than happy to assist you to take the picture, if it is OK and most of the times it is.

    When I went to the Hermitge in St.Petersburg, Russia, the security asked me if my video camcorder was a CAMERA. They told me no cameras were allowed in the building. Well, I told them that my camcorder is not still camera, and they let me in with it, and I could make a home movie of the Hermitage.

  8. I'm going to buy some long lenses... by killpog · · Score: 2, Funny

    And take a picture of the statue of Liberty before I forget what it looks like...

  9. Re:So? by CmdrGravy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was walking back from the pub late one night minding my own business and noticed a car driving towards me going very slowly, it passed me by drove a bit further up the street and then turned around and came back past me again still going very slowly. Hmm, I thought, what does this car want ? There's no one else on the road, it's late at night and whoever it is in this car is behaving very strangely. I carried on walking keeping an eye on where the car was going and saw it turn into a car park a couple of hundred metres further on, turn around and sit in the entrance with it's lights on right next to where I'd have to walk past it. I decided to cross the road and walk down the other side and as I went past the car park it turned out and kept pace with me ( driving on the wrong side of the road ) so I thought I don't like the look of this and hopped over a fence into a piece of wasteground where I thought I might take the opportunity to take a call of nature and observe what the car was up to. It carried on very slowly and turned into the next side street where I couldn't see it. I finished my business and carried on walking and after a minute or so it came back out it's side street and screeched to a halt next me.

    Some guy popped out and said he was a police officer and that they'd like to ask me why I was behaving so suspiciously. I had to laugh at that, here they were having stalked me in an unmarked car for 10 minutes behaving in what given the time of night was a highly suspicious manner and they want to know why I am behaving suspiciously !

  10. Government is evil by Deputy+Doodah · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dammit, I thought WE won the cold war.

  11. Re:No photographs ... by hoggoth · · Score: 5, Funny

    > You think railfans have problems? You should ask some planespotters some times!!!

    You think planespotters have problems? You should ask some militarybasefans some time!!!

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  12. Re:Not just the police restricting photos by PerlDudeXL · · Score: 2, Funny
  13. Re:No photographs ... by Ced_Ex · · Score: 2, Funny

    You have a good point but please dont think that the "terrorists" wear "dark clothing and hide in the woods. Those kinds of silly assumptions about how people dress or act is what leads us into this mess in the first place.

    By "terrorist", do you mean "paparazzi"?

    --
    Live forever, or die trying.
  14. Re:In that case by tutori · · Score: 2, Funny

    One of them nailed his ass with DNA evidence.

    Umm, you sure it wasn't the other way around? ;)

  15. Re:No photographs ... by dex22 · · Score: 4, Funny

    > You think militarybasefans have problems? You should ask some terrorists some time!!!