I was thinking about something while shooting some pictures earlier; Could freelance photographers be arrested for terrorism?

Now to make myself clear as to what I am asking... a lot of the time my stock photos are up for review. There are many times when I am contacted by phone email, etc. asking for a certain subject. If I don't have it in my collection I will go out and shoot the subject. It isn't unusual for clients to want landmarks, famous places, etc.

Now what I will do is get together a proof sheet and send it to them. What they like, they will pay for and I will send their ordered prints. There are many times when I really have no idea who the client actually is.

Now on to the question:

If I sell prints to someone, and they are later arrested for terrorism or attempted, etc. and the feds find out that I sold them pictures through records or on their computer, phone bill, etc. can I be arrested for aiding terror.

The main reason I want oppinions on this is that I am unable to do a background check on every client that I sell photos to. Could I be held accountable for the missuse of my photos??

____________________________________________________________
Be Cool
K_OS

K_OS,

I googled photojournalist liability and came up with a bunch of contracts between photogs and clients. I'm guessing if you cover your arse with legaleeze via contract (which you probably do), you seem protected. Of course, vigilance rules the day and you would immediately become skeptical and suspicious of a client asking you to photograph, in detail, several "highly valuable/symbolic" sites. IMO, this is where you could get into trouble. Just my $0.02.

I would say that you should evaluate any request that you have for pictures to determine if there is anything fishy about the requests. If someone wants a pretty picture of the Statue of Liberty, that's one thing. If someone wants you to photograph the architectural details of the monument, then you might want to know a little more about the client.

I would hope that your main concern in this matter is more than your own legal disposition in the case of terrorist investigations and includes the sincere desire not to be instrumental in acts of terrorism against the United States.

I would also suggest that if you have genuine concerns about your being used in this manner that you contact the government to determine just how you should conduct yourself to avoid involvement in unpleasant legal wranglings or the deaths of innocents, whatever your priorties are.

[edit on 04/11/19 by GradyPhilpott]

Oh yeah, I deffinately wouldn't sell to anyone that I thought was fishy and I try to always cover contracts.

(Human life is always most important to me)

I do a lot of fine art photography as well as journalistic, etc. The reason that I bring this up is that sometimes your best fine art photos are the structure of a building rather than the building itself, and I have quite a few photos that reflect that.

I also do a fair share of gallery shows...in those if I put a price on my work, I have no idea as to who purchases some of my work.

These situations are what worry me. Our government has been known to arrest people with little or no proof if it suits them. I would really hate to be arrested because someone linked to terrorism was to go into a gallery and buy one of my prints... but hey this is America.

____________________________________________________________
Be Cool
K_OS

I sincerely doubt that if your work is such that you do gallery shows and operate above board that you have anything to worry about. If you've been in this business for any length of time you should have developed some degree of "professional wisdom" to guide you in your business dealings. Use your head and you shouldn't have any problems. After all, this is America.

[edit on 04/11/20 by GradyPhilpott]

A matter as potentially serious as this, I would not look for legal advice on a blog.