You Have The Right To Take Pictures Of Infrastructure—Business And Government Work Together To Deny Basic Freedoms In An Open Society

Houston public radio station KUHF reported recently about people in Houston who take pictures of  things such as refineries and bridges here in Houston.

(Above–You have the right to take pictures.)

These persons are often stopped and questioned by police and by private/corporate security officers.

From the KUHF report—

“As part of his work as a community organizer for environmental causes, Juan Parras takes photos of refineries and petrochemical plants near the Houston Ship Channel. Sometimes, he says he’s made to feel like a criminal for doing it.  In some cases, they’ve actually wanted to delete the pictures we took,” he says. When that happened, Parras says he just told the officers he didn’t know how to do that…People who photograph or videotape “critical infrastructure”– what the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calls things like  refineries, bridges and airports — might be plotting an attack. Or at least that’s the message the government is publicizing in an effort to encourage all of us to report suspicious people…An anti-terrorism video produced by the City of Houston shows a woman taking notes and photos at a light rail station. When a police officer approaches, she tries to leave. The next shot is of the woman being held in the backseat of a patrol car….In July of 2010,  Austin-based photographer Lance Rosenfield was on assignment for ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative reporting project, which was doing stories on accidents and pollution releases from BP’s big refinery complex in Texas City….But after getting shots of a “Welcome to Texas City” sign along a highway that borders the refinery, Rosenfield noticed he was being followed by a private security truck. When he pulled into a gas station, a couple of Texas City police patrol cars pulled in. Rosenfield showed officers the photos on his digital camera. Satisfied he had done nothing wrong, the officers said he could go. But they also insisted on giving the personal information they’d collected from Rosenfield to a security officer from BP who also showed up at the gas station….Under federal regulations, the chemical industry is actually required to promptly report security “incidents” to the National Response Center, providing “as much … information as possible,” including addresses and phone numbers of people apparently like Rosenfield. “

I take many pictures around Houston for my blog and for another project I’m working on.  I was once stopped and asked questions by private security officers of a large energy company while I was on City of Houston property. These persons told me that if I did not give my name that they would call the police and the Coast Guard.

I’ll be honest—I gave in and told them my name because I was nervous and I did not want to deal with it all.

But the truth is that you have rights in this society. You have rights even given the collaboration of big companies and government to deny our basic freedom to observe and make note of what is around us in life.

Top Texas conservative blogger David Jennings wrote last year about being questioned by authorities after taking pictures of Houston Metro train facilities. 

The ACLU has a page of rights that each of us have to take pictures in our supposed land of the free.

Here is that page.

Here is some of what the ACLU says on this issue—

When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society.

When you are on private property, the property owner may set rules about the taking of photographs. If you disobey the property owner’s rules, they can order you off their property (and have you arrested for trespassing if you do not comply).

Police officers may not generally confiscate or demand to view your photographs or video without a warrant.If you are arrested, the contents of your phone may be scrutinized by the police, although their constitutional power to do so remains unsettled. In addition, it is possible that courts may approve the seizure of a camera in some circumstances if police have a reasonable, good-faith belief that it contains evidence of a crime by someone other than the police themselves (it is unsettled whether they still need a warrant to view them).

Police may not delete your photographs or video under any circumstances.

Police officers may legitimately order citizens to cease activities that are truly interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations. Professional officers, however, realize that such operations are subject to public scrutiny, including by citizens photographing them.

Note that the right to photograph does not give you a right to break any other laws. For example, if you are trespassing to take photographs, you may still be charged with trespass.

Big Texas Liberal Blogging Announcement & Innovation

Hello Blog Reading Public!

I’ve purchased one of the small Flip Cameras because I’m going to film videos and post them on this blog from time-to-time.  I have many ideas for these videos—Though as yet these ideas are not fully formed.

( Update–Here is the link to the first video I recorded.)

(Above–19th Century camera. This would be a bit bulky to carry around. Here is some history of 19th century photography.)

Over the next week, I’m going to think what I would like to say, do and film in my videos. I’m going to test the camera both inside and outside to see how it works in various settings and how well it records sound. Later this week, I’m going to go to Galveston, Texas, on the sunny shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and film my first videos.  

(Below–A movie camera of a type still in use. It is an Arricam ST. This camera is a bit elaborate for what I plan to be doing. Think of the batteries it must take. ) 

Because I want to do the videos right, I’m going to post on a reduced basis for the next week or so here at Texas Liberal. There’s only so much time I can spend blogging while keeping my job and spending time with the excellent wife. 

I’ll post a picture or something else short and easy.  Despite these short posts, I urge regular readers to still visit the blog as often as possible. The higher my blog traffic each day, the better I feel about the collective judgement of those I share the planet with.

(Below–A disposable camera. Hopefully you’ll feel that this blog merits more than one use.)

Texas Liberal has averaged 1645 page views a day since the first of the year. I have the goal of being the largest individually operated political blog in Houston and in Texas. I’m also a featured political reader blogger at the Houston Chronicle. (And I post on things other than politics as well.)

( Below–This self-portrait of one Robert Cornelius from 1839 is said to be the first picture of a person ever taken. Will anything I do last 170 years?)

If you like this blog, please forward the link. A blog grows one reader at a time.  Please also feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook. My name is Neil Aquino and I live in Houston. My profile picture at the moment is a boat stuck on land after Hurricane Ike.

Thank you for reading Texas Liberal. If you have any ideas for my videos, please offer a comment.  

(Below–A Flip Camera just like the one I now have. I hope I do a good and creative job with my videos. Please visit Texas Liberal very often and see how I am doing.)