Interesting People mailing list archives
[alleged] picture censoring nonsense
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 09:17:46 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com> Date: June 9, 2005 4:26:49 PM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: fwd: [alleged] picture censoring nonsense
This was on a photo group. So yesterday I was walking around downtown Pittsburgh with my camera.When I found myself next to the PPG building, I pointed my camera upwardlike a tourist and took a shot. (If you've ever seen a skyline shot of Pittsburgh, you've seen this building; it's the distinctive mirrored one with the points on top.If you're a photographer, you've probably seen a shot of the Pittsburghskyline, since it's the best view east of the Mississippi.)I had time to shoot *one* frame before I heard, "Excuse me, sir, but theydon't like it when people take pictures of this building."I looked over and saw the private security guard there. I said, "Um, oh.Okay. That's kind of too bad, isn't it?" "Excuse me?" he said. "It's a public area," I said. "Well, technically it's private property.""It's open to the public," I said, looking around at the hundreds of people milling around and/or playing in the fountain. "Are you telling me to leave?""Well, no." "All these other people are taking pictures, too.""Well, they don't mind eye-level stuff, but when you point the camera up, theystart to get nervous. Since 9/11, you know, terrorism."At this point, I lept on my opportunity. "Oh!" I said, a shocked look on myface. "Is it a secret building? Because if it is, I'll stop." "What?""The building. Is it a secret? Because I really thought the cat was out of the bag already, since you can see it from ten miles in every direction, but if it's a secret I'll stop. I wouldn't want to be the one to get the wordout to the terrorists about it."At this point he realized it was a rhetorical question. "I don't know, sir,that's just what they tell me." "You know it sounds absurd, right?" "Well, I don't know about that." "You said that eye-level pictures are okay." "Yes.""So if I go around taking pictures of the best places to plant explosives, or ways to break into the building, that's okay, but if I take a shot of the 25th floor, which I can't reach, that's bad. This kind of tells methe policy isn't very well thought out." "I don't know, sir. That's what my boss says I'm supposed to say.""Well, I guess you're just doing your job, but I'm not going to stop unless you order me off the property. I mean, the police don't seem to have any problem with it." (There were police visible, who were entirely uninterestedin my activities.)He shrugged, clearly not knowing how to respond to that. At that point, Iwalked away from him, and he did not pursue.
------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- [alleged] picture censoring nonsense David Farber (Jun 10)