Attn Photographers: Freedom To Photograph needs your stories

[_dgm]

Photographers, www.FreedomToPhotograph.com needs your stories about run-ins with the law and the outcome, along with how you were treated. Our rights to photograph in public places have been on attack and get even more scrutiny since the homeland security bill was passed. Lawmakers are trying to make in illegal to take pictures of buildings or even have cameras on you in certain parts of cities across America and around the world, even while standing on publicly funded roads and sidewalks.

www.FreedomToPhotograph.com was created to bring awareness to this situation. Almost daily, photographers are being taken into custody, having film seized and being held without being read their Miranda Rights while being questioned for hours on end. Sharing your stories will only help to enlighten those who are unaware of the situation, and help lobby lawmakers to enforce the laws we have, protect the rights we have and help pass new laws so that our Freedom to Photograph will not be taken away.

The site is driven by you, the photographer, and is dynamically updateable and ever changing. We encourage you to share your stories, both positive and negative outcomes as we are not trying to crucify law enforcement. To do so, please visit www.FreedomToPhotograph.com and click the Contribute link in the menu. After you fill out the form, a staff member will be in contact with you shortly and provide you with login information so that you may publish your story. If you would like to submit a story anonymously, you may, full directions are located here: http://freedomtophotograph.com/contribute.php

Please help spread the word, and add our link to your site.

[henkbos]

_dgm wrote:
Lawmakers are trying to make in illegal to take pictures of buildings or even have cameras on you in certain parts of cities across America and around the world, even while standing on publicly funded roads and sidewalks.


Fortunately the world is bigger than the US alone and in a lot there is a style of democracy where the people can and will rebel against this kind of government terror.

[_dgm]

Thanks for the reply. Are you suggesting that The U.S. has lost its way? Have the American people become too complacent in their relative freedom from oppression? Are we too interested in security, to the point that we are giving away our liberty?

I'm honestly curious what your views are. If you like, come on over to the site and sign up. We welcome all sorts of views, both pro and con...

[henkbos]

Not trying to bash the USA. My wife is American and I think it is a country with great people. However, the country is ruled by fear. It's not something new, even before 9/11 this was going on. Look at the TV: even while the # of murders has gone down, the coverage of murders on TV has increased dramatically. It's all hyped. But what better way to control people and get them 'in line' then to tell them that they are under threat?
I had great difficulty to convince my US-relatives to visit the Middle East. They were convinced that there was a muslim-terrorist at every corner of the street targetting Americans. Well, here our 11 year old boy can wonder off by himself in a shopping mall without fear. Can you do that in the US?

[_dgm]

What you say is true. There are many who fear the rest of the world. I say it is lack of education though. It is a fear of the unknown.

One of my good friends just went on a trip around he world, stopping in France, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

In Egypt, he was invited to two separate muslim weddings as a guest, by his taxi driver. He went to both weddings and was embraced like family. He told everyone he was from New York.

Many of his friends, when he returned home, thought he was insane for doing this. That, is sad.

[John_T]

The US doesn't recognize it's own internal oppression from the cradle to the grave, and therefore doesn't recognize it's oppressiveness at home and abroad. The US is caught in the same vicious circle that brought down the communists and ****s. The US considers itself to be the world authority on good and evil, and right and wrong, suppressing or rubbing out any word or fact to the contrary. Their value system is based on greed and power. And since the electorate have chosen what you see, there's no need to be surprised at or blame the elected for their deeds. Just doing their elected duty. with relish. And of course, the American Way of Life in all it's unquestioned purity is their major export.

Sound familiar? It should, because it's the same pattern of rise and fall throughout human(?) history. Try to see things as they are, and not how you would like them to be, or how you think they should be. Only then do you stand any chance of changing anything, first of all, yourself.

[new girl on the bloc]

interesting thread. i used to go to a lot of street actions, always with a camera. i heard that the chance of confiscation was great, but it never happened to me (i've not been out in the street for nearly a year, so things may be changing). i was photographed and videotaped plenty; i would simply point my camera in the direction of whomever was pointing their camera at me, in other words without fear, since i knew that i was within my rights. i used to post many of the photos to www.portland.indymedia.com, where i did hear from others who had their gear taken from them.

but our rights are slowly being taken, and yes, under the guise of security, and laughingly, our freedom. will the people revolt against it? not until they pull themselves away from the propoganda box and start thinking for themselves, and looking at what is really going on. i don't see that happening anytime soon, since t.v. is by far one of our most serious drug addictions.

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1280061&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

[MediaMagic]

henkbos wrote:
But what better way to control people and get them 'in line' then to tell them that they are under threat?


Well, religion of course. "God says do this, don't wanna roast in hell now do ya? We didn't make up these rules, GOD did it." etc etc etc, religious expressions ad infinitum. Wait, that's still control by fear/threat! Amazing, huh.

I totally agree. We as americans have the government we deserve because we do not stand against it en masse when it takes the baby steps to relieve us of our freedom, one baby step at a time.

If there is one truth to which I have come in my years on the planet it is this: most of the people on the earth are gullible, lazy, or idiots. I'd guess the number to be 80% or higher. Complacency, ambivalence, apathy- all enemies of freedom.

The photography crack down is ridiculous, but the gullible will buy into the hype. Just like last time; just like next time.

I will send letters to senators/representatives, and I'll protest locally for anyone having been detained or having had equipment confiscated. Let's see what comes of it in the long run.

on a similar note of fear. I live in the Seattle area. For three days, our local news stations ran a story detailing american campers (camping in Canada) being attacked by Canadians, soley for being American. What???? I can't imagine this happening in even one of my wildest bizarre nightmares north of the border. Now, my experience in Canada is limited to several trips to Vancouver and the surrounding area, but, the only types of threats I've ever received is to burst from being over fed, invitations to too many parties, kindness galore, etc. I've never met a more benevolent people. But, we were warned to take precautions if we had business to conduct or were planning vacations in Canada. The fear factor is absurd.

Take care,
David

[MediaMagic]

John_T wrote:
The US doesn't recognize it's own internal oppression from the cradle to the grave, and therefore doesn't recognize it's oppressiveness at home and abroad. .

Oh, believe me, we recognize it. The problem lies in the fact that our media portrays anyone or group who stands against the opression of tyranny to be right wing anarchists. It's amazing what our government does under the guise of "protecting our children", "war on drugs", "homeland security", and other such equally inane propoganda.

[John_T]

The oldest political ploy in the world is to invent/create an enemy, idolize the locals, and then stand for leadership as the soul saviour of the righteous and holy. All the better if the enemy is doing the same thing. Create and fan the fires of polarity, extoll the virtues of the locals and condemn the ways and practices of the "others" as wrong and unholy. God has nothing to do with it.

Do you think that as soon as the white hats have rounded up the black hats they'll go home and live in peace? No, they'll leave some black hats out there to keep themselves in power. Osama and Saddam make a wonderful powerbase. The more the merrier.

Do you think that "Homeland Security" is anything other than a burgeoning Gestapo, Secret Police, Big Brother? Same game under another name. Sort of creeps up on you and by the time you recognize it, it's too late.

And rights? Rights exist only in the political realm and nowhere else in the Universe. Politics are purely a human invention to facilitate the few's domination of the many. The many abdicate their self-determination to the few because they want someone to tell them what to do. It starts with Mommy and Daddy. "If I'm a good girl or boy I'll get approval and some candy. Shame their's no love in it too, but Mommy says candy is better than love. Besides, if I'm not their version of 'good', I'll get smacked."

And then there are those who would "wake up" others while nurturing their own dreams. Revolutionaries who would replace one system with another that suits their interests better. Tear everything down to the lowest level and rebuild in their own distorted images and visions.

If they were to return today, Jesus would throw the Pope out of the tempel along with the money changers, Buddha would walk back into the wilderness looking for a Bohdi tree and a more thorough enlightment, Mohammed would shake his head, mount his camel and ride off into the desert, while Lao Tzu would watch, wonder and laugh.

Man is immature, and perhaps our current world is just the scenery along man's route to maturity. You can't save anybody else's life any more than you can save man from himself. You can, however, save yourself and nurture your own maturity and awareness in reality, and once you belong to yourself, hope to hell it's contagious.

Good photography is ultimately only for yourself. If it happens to catch someone else's eye, it might do someone else good, but if that is your objective, you too are playing politics.