Wash Post joins the "Freedom of photography" discussion

Wash Post joins the "Freedom of photography" discussion

www.datelinezero.com

The Washington Post has a write-up about the unsettling trend to ban recording of police and other government agencies. This has been a part of a wider trend of the State to ban the private class from watching and documenting the political class, while the political class demands to observe, wiretap, record, photograph, and strip-scan members of the private class – and that includes children.
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While there are upsetting examples of people being arrested and even roughed up for taking pictures of officers and government buildings, and often given no good reason, Wash Post gives some exam

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
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www.datelinezero.com
www.realclearpolitics.com

It's great that the msm is joining "the rest of us" in questioning this horrible trend of police arresting people for taking pictures of them. Because this problem of the political class watching us, but then arresting us for watching them, leads to a really bad place.

Although, maybe we have already arrived in that bad place. In which case, we need to turn back the tide.

www.datelinezero.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Can anyone, even the Police, come up with a consistent and cogent argument as to why they are doing this?

So far I have heard none.

"Officer Safety" seems to be about protecting officers from supposed physical retribution for crimes committed while on duty...

No one thinks this is odd?

1. They walk around in uniform all the time. In public. People know they are police officers! A video does not change that.

2. If they break the law, even the Police have to admit that they shuld be treated as if they broke the law. At least publicly.

That this is not how thing play out is wrong and a video proves it in the minds of most people.

If video is good enough to convict you and I of wrong doing, why are police striving to protect themselves from that same watchful eye?

(OK, finished with this rant now. Thanks for listening.)

S&F from me. The media is starting to get bitten by this and thus are starting to speak out it as well.

The thing is - all the various LEO's, and government agencies basically ask the public one question when the public gets disgruntled about all the surveillance we are under. That being...

"If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?"

Well - hmmmm.. Wouldn't that be an excellent question for the public and the media to start asking in mass to the various law enforcement and government agencies when they get bent out of shape about the public taking a look at them?

A quote from Ben Franklin to ponder...

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

@ Frogs: I've come to appreciate that quote from Franklin more and more in the past few years.


There was something in the news a while back about Detroit police officers having accidentally killed a little girl. The police filed their official story, which made it sound like just a mis-hap with a tragic ending.

But a tv news camera had been present, and the video ended up in the hands of a lawyer. The video showed it was incredible negligence that led to the girl's death. The officers didn't follow safety procedure at all.

The mayor's response was ... to ban cameras from being around Detroit PD.

It's insulting and disgusting.

It's nice to see mainstream media taking this up. Some poor guy was actually arrested for "illegal photography" for taking a picture of cop who was tresspassing into his home.