[PickEmUp]

Actually MT, you are free to scratch all you want.

You just ned the ID to buy a scratcher..........

[HaroldMY]

Lol

[tooratrack]

In Washington, D.C., last year, I took some pictures of an art deco frieze at the entrance to one of the commerce department buildings. Instant challenge from the security guards. They asked for I.D., and wrote down my name. I was most cooperative, and they scooted me along. without any fuss. And so I left, with my camera and pictures intact. I figured, "Hell, they're just minimum wage security guards, doing what they're told to do, and they were courteous."

I didn't give them any lip, and they didn't take my camera. We both won. (Sort of.)

... except that you now have a file with the FBI. Otherwise, it is A-OK

[TeveVikep]

Editorial

Film permit rules make a frightening picture

If the city’s proposed new film and photography permit rules are enacted, any group of two or more people that linger with a camera could be arrested for photographing without a permit. These new additions to the rules, which have nothing to do with security concerns, are unacceptable as written, probably unnecessary, and need to be sent back to the drawing board.

The un-American rules from the Mayor’s Office of Film Theatre & Broadcasting come out of a settlement of a lawsuit by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is one of the few groups aware of the change and is of course opposing them. The city held a public hearing on the rules last week and in a sure sign that the public notice was woefully inadequate, no one showed up, The New York Times reported.
The rules would require a permit and in most circumstances, at least $1 million in insurance if two people, e.g., a photographer and a human subject, stayed in one place for 30 minutes. A family or group of five with one camera and no permit would have 10 minutes before they would have to worry about Big Brother.

One reason New York is one of the world’s greatest cities is the large number of artists who flock here. Any rule that prohibits art and aspiring fashion photographers — not to mention hobbyists and tourists — from capturing their vision of our unique streets, poses a threat to our freedom and to the city itself.

This paper has an obvious self-interest in opposing the rule change. The mayor’s film office claims on its Web site that “the new rule does not impact press photographers, who are routinely credentialed by the NYPD,” but many of the thousands of independent news photographers in the city including our own freelancers will tell you the granting of these credentials is anything but routine. Some of our photographers who search Lower Manhattan for street scene shots that often appear on this page cannot get police passes. These new rules would make them lawbreakers. It’s easy to understand why we’re against this, but it’s hard to imagine how anyone who values freedom, art or the Constitution could be for it.

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_217/editorial.html

[Seesspoxy]

Gonna have to be sneakier than ever ^^^

[nemoforone]

The people that need to take these pictures for nefarious purposes have other ways of getting them.

This regulation is just fear mongering BS. We might as well hide unde the desks from the Atom Bomb and keep confiscating nail clippers on planes because armageddon is coming soon!!!!

[leoto5Fm]

Well the Police State hates videos like THIS.

*****
Protesters Turn Lens on Mayor's Office Over NY Film Ban
Video Journalists and Other Protesters Defiant at Bloomberg's Blatant Attack on 1st Amendment

The policy establishes a dangerous precedent that could threaten free speech nationwide if it is allowed to succeed, potentially prompting other localities to adopt similar policies.

As one voice in the protest video put it:
"What you guys are doing, what these video cameras are doing are the only thing that's securing our liberty right now. If everybody was taping all the time, we'd be completely safe. The only people who have anything to hide from our cameras are people that are involved in something illegal or wrong. In a city where they repeat over and over again-- 'if you see something, say something,' then what could be better than getting it down on tape?" *****

Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting
(212) 489-6710
http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/
*
Public Feedback

[standaman]

To send a message to Katherine Oliver, Commissioner of Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, use the following form:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailfilmcom.html

[TaxSheemaSter]

^ What? And get put on their shitlist?

[Andrew1978]

Meanwhile, with security cameras on every street, *they* get to watch *us* more than ever.

(Right, Capn_Birdseye?)