[Politech] Fed police interrogate student photographer for bridge photos [fs]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Tue Jul 20 2004 - 22:01:58 PDT


Previous Politech messages on related topics:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04221.html
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04239.html

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Photo Student Challenged in Homeland Security Incident
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 21:30:59 -0700
From: Da'ud X Mohammed <webmaster@private>
Organization: Oregon Coast News Signal
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private>


Hullo Declan,

Don't know if you saw this one, or that it might be of interest to
Politech readers (who also might happen to be photographers) in the D.C.
area, where nearly everything in town appears to be a federal building
but in reality may be a future federal case

wa-salaam

dxm

*********

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Photographer%20Questioned
Thursday, July 15, 2004 · Last updated 11:49 p.m. PT

Questioning of photo student challenged

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SEATTLE -- Ian Spiers had just hours to finish an assignment for his
photography class. He was taking shots of a railroad bridge near the
Ballard Locks when an officer with a German shepherd approached him,
asked him what he was doing and requested some ID.

Later, he was questioned and photographed by a Homeland Security agent.

It was the second time in less than two months that Spiers had been
questioned about taking pictures of a landmark that attracts hundreds of
tourists a day, many of whom snap photos of the ships passing between
Lake Union and Elliott Bay.

A growing number of photographers around the country have been similarly
rousted in recent years as they've tried to take pictures of federal
buildings and other major public works, said Donald Winslow, editor of
the National Press Photographers Association's magazine.

"We've seen the constant erosion of our civil liberties amid this cry
for homeland security by doing things that have an appearance of making
us safe, but in reality it's a sham," Winslow said. "No one showed up at
the World Trade Center and took photographs from nine different angles
before they flew planes into it."

[...]

On the Net:

National Press Photographers Association: http://www.nppa.org/

Spiers' Web site: http://www.brownequalsterrorist.com/


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