A very interesting read - a must read if you like photography

[episodic]

http://69.93.170.43/

The site is legit, I guess it is run off of a home system as it does not have a DNS that I know of.

 

[Bootprint]

Security guard, "OMG, that dude doesn't look white enough and he has a camera, quick call homeland security."

 

[PHiuR]

it's sad
as a photographer I can feel his frustration
as a non-white human I feel his pain even more.

 

[myusername]

Is there a part of the constitution that addresses the proper course of action when the authorities fail to follow it?

 

[suse920]

That sucks, i wonder what out founding fathers would think of us now.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Couldn't he call up some imitation Johnie Cochran, call up the media, and create a lot of headaches for the douchebags that did this? I'd go all PC on their ass if they tried to pull that on me . . . :|

 

[ViviTheMage]

wow, I hope tihs never happens to me...

 

[PHiuR]

Originally posted by: episodic
http://69.93.170.43/

The site is legit, I guess it is run off of a home system as it does not have a DNS that I know of.

episodic, thanks for the great read and post!

I forwarded to my photo class!

 

[ProviaFan]

Consider printing a copy of this (PDF link)... Not that it would stop any power-hungry assholes who get their high from violating powerless individuals' rights, but it might make you feel better to be able to prove that you're right if you were to be in a situation like that.

 

[RbSX]

As a brown guy that travels through through the united states all the time (my family has a place in Hawaii), I get the same kind of treatment.

Generally by fat, stupid, uneducated white people.

Go figure.

 

[Zenmervolt]

So basically he refused to identify himself, responding only with "I'm a photography student" and showing his equipment but intentionally witholding his ID, which would have proven his story...

Yeah, I'm completely perplexed as to why anyone would have been suspiscious.

ZV

I'm not saying that the treatment was right, but in BOTH cases he could have ended it in 5 minutes by handing over his ID and being pleasant. Instead he chose to get righteous and evasive. Refusing to show ID is a HUGE red flag and anyone with more than one functioning brain cell should know that.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
So basically he refused to identify himself, responding only with "I'm a photography student" and showing his equipment but intentionally witholding his ID, which would have proven his story...

Yeah, I'm completely perplexed as to why anyone would have been suspiscious.

ZV

I'm not saying that the treatment was right, but in BOTH cases he could have ended it in 5 minutes by handing over his ID and being pleasant. Instead he chose to get righteous and evasive. Refusing to show ID is a HUGE red flag and anyone with more than one functioning brain cell should know that.

He did hand it to the first person that asked, but refused on the second and third persons that harassed him.

Quite frankly I'd get their badge numbers and lodge a complaint.

 

[PHiuR]

do citizens in all states of the United States have to show their ID to a police officer if asked?

 

[littleprince]

That's the exact type of attitude and infringement on a persons rights which makes people hate America. I'm a Canadian, and on my last trip to the US with an Australian friend we experienced similar "BS" from Americans citing 9/11 and terrorism.

If Americans let this crap go on in their own homeland, they aren't actually that different from the Middle Easterners they bomb.

 

[Zerhyn]

That is pretty interesting. It is unfortuanate that people of a different race have to go through those type of situations here in the U.S.

The most an educated person can do is at least understand what is going on and be able to act in a civilized manner. Some people are not able to contain their emotions or be able to seperate the people who were involved in 9/11 and who weren't.

But even that is difficult. We hear all the time about these people who go off to afghanistan or where ever. Or like the people in the London Bombings. Their family or friends or collegues didn't know they were going to blow something up.

It is a very confusing time...

 

[talyn00]

Originally posted by: PHiuR
do citizens in all states of the United States have to show their ID to a police officer if asked?

not sure, but it might vary from state to state. not showing your id will most likely give them a reason to detain you longer.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
So basically he refused to identify himself, responding only with "I'm a photography student" and showing his equipment but intentionally witholding his ID, which would have proven his story...

Yeah, I'm completely perplexed as to why anyone would have been suspiscious.

ZV

I'm not saying that the treatment was right, but in BOTH cases he could have ended it in 5 minutes by handing over his ID and being pleasant. Instead he chose to get righteous and evasive. Refusing to show ID is a HUGE red flag and anyone with more than one functioning brain cell should know that.

He did hand it to the first person that asked, but refused on the second and third persons that harassed him.

Quite frankly I'd get their badge numbers and lodge a complaint.

The second person who asked was on a different day and couldn't have possibly known about the earlier incident.

I'm a photographer too....though I've not had a run-in.

 

[spunkz]

sux that he has to deal with that, but you can bet that policemen stationed at public landmarks are told to look for brown men taking photographs. here's this guy, a new photography student taking non-touristy pictures. of course that's gonna raise flags. why does he act so surprised when approached? why does he ask the officers why they aren't harrassing the non-brown people? sounds pretty ignorant to me. or he's just making a sob story to sell his photos, which are pretty terrible imo.

of course the officers were out of line. but even from limited experience, i would expect the average cop to have an authority complex. people like that are drawn to police work. i'm not saying they shouldn't be punished for overstepping their authority, but i just can't believe all of you guys are shocked to hear stories like this.

 

[upsciLLion]

That is ridiculous bullshit.

 

[PHiuR]

Originally posted by: spunkz
sux that he has to deal with that, but you can bet that policemen stationed at public landmarks are told to look for brown men taking photographs. here's this guy, a new photography student taking non-touristy pictures. of course that's gonna raise flags. why does he act so surprised when approached? why does he ask the officers why they aren't harrassing the non-brown people? sounds pretty ignorant to me. or he's just making a sob story to sell his photos, which are pretty terrible imo.

of course the officers were out of line. but even from limited experience, i would expect the average cop to have an authority complex. people like that are drawn to police work. i'm not saying they shouldn't be punished for overstepping their authority, but i just can't believe all of you guys are shocked to hear stories like this.

with your logic...if it were white men who bombed the twin towers then all white men should accept the fact they will be questioned when doing something simple such as taking pictures in public? Would you like it if you were out taking pictures and saw a bunch of asians, blacks, browns taking pictures and the cops only came to stop YOU a WHITE person from taking pictures?


Ofcourse this is less likely to happen because white men = majority...so it's hard to understand.

 

[amol]

I'm Indian (Asian Indian, not Native American) and I'm also an avid photographer. I've been approached by other people asking me about photography at least 8 times in the last year, including twice by police. I'm not even 16 years old either.

 

[spunkz]

Originally posted by: PHiuR

Originally posted by: spunkz
sux that he has to deal with that, but you can bet that policemen stationed at public landmarks are told to look for brown men taking photographs. here's this guy, a new photography student taking non-touristy pictures. of course that's gonna raise flags. why does he act so surprised when approached? why does he ask the officers why they aren't harrassing the non-brown people? sounds pretty ignorant to me. or he's just making a sob story to sell his photos, which are pretty terrible imo.

of course the officers were out of line. but even from limited experience, i would expect the average cop to have an authority complex. people like that are drawn to police work. i'm not saying they shouldn't be punished for overstepping their authority, but i just can't believe all of you guys are shocked to hear stories like this.

with your logic...if it were white men who bombed the twin towers then all white men accept the fact they will be questioned when doing something simple such as taking pictures in public? Would you like it if you were out taking pictures and saw a bunch of asians, blacks, browns taking pictures and the cops only came to stop YOU a WHITE person from taking pictures?

of course i wouldn't like it, but i would understand why they singled me out. why would they have any reason to be suspicious of asians or blacks? i certainly wouldn't be alarmed and surprised like the photographer was. i wouldn't act all shocked and edgy when they were questioning me, just building further suspicion. it's just common sense. the US is still involved in military conflict with groups that aren't exactly known for their white, black, and asian members. and the US is still receiving threats of further terrorist attacks on our soil. i would expect that if i were taking unusual pictures in somewhere like Iran that i might attract unwanted attention.