America

America

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Man Arrested For Taking Photo of Open ATM



Man Arrested For Taking Photo of Open ATM on Tuesday May 12, @07:38PM


Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 12, @07:38PM
from the i-will-tackle-you dept.
net_shaman writes in with word of a Seattle man who was arrested for taking a photo of an ATM being serviced. "Today I was shopping at the downtown Seattle REI. I was about to buy a Thule hitch mount bike rack. They were out of the piece that locks the bike rack into the hitch. So I was in the customer service line to special order one. It was a long line and while I was waiting, I saw two of guys (employees of Loomis, as I later learned) refilling the ATM. I walked over and took a picture with my iPhone of them and more interestingly of the open ATM. I took the picture because I'm fascinated by the insides of things that we don't normally get to see. ... That was when Officer GE Abed (#6270) spun me around and put handcuffs on me."
Read More...

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What a load of BS. Nice to see the rent-a-cops pushing people around, and the Seattle PD apparently in the business of bullying someone.

If the story is as was written, the guy didn't do anything illegal, and the fake-cops and the real ones are in the wrong.


I agree with Bert here:
Quote:
http://consumerist.com/5249853/loomi...over-atm-photo
Remember, you can take photos of pretty much any damned thing you want in public (military and national security areas are the exception), including children, buildings, airports, and police officers. Private properties can set their own rules about what kind of photography is allowed, but can't confiscate your film without a court order. If they try to or threaten you with arrest, they're more likely to be breaking the law than you are.


Bert Krages, an attorney who wrote a concise summary of rights called The Photographer's Rights (from which we pulled out the info in the above paragraph), points out that most public photo altercations are started by security officers or employees who don't know the law and who just assume that taking photos is somehow illegal. He suggests if a rent-a-cop becomes "pushy, combative, or unreasonably hostile," call the police. But who do you call when the police are also dumb and easily frightened, and more likely to protect private businesses instead of private citizens?
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