THE WAR ON FARM PHOTOGRAPHY
Mar. 10th, 2011 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: A bill in Florida proposed by state senator Jim Norman (R-Tampa) would make it a first-degree felony to photograph a farm without first obtaining written permission from the owner.
The rationale for this, apparently, is to keep other farmers from stealing yr trade secrets. Or prevent PETA from posting embarrassing videos about yr operations.
Because wouldn’t that be just awful for America’s farmers?
The worry, of course, is that the bill is so vaguely worded that it would make even taking photos from the side of a road or in the air a felony. And as Judy Dalglish, executive director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, points out, there are already trespass laws to cover unauthorized people on yr property whether they’re taking photos or not.
Which is why it sounds more to me like another instance of the general Fear Of Photography that has swept certain parts of America (and the UK) since 9/11 when politicians and law enforcement officials were terrified into believing that taking pictures of things (bridges, buildings, police officers, fish, etc) was potential reconnaissance for a terrorist attack or some other criminal activity, which is why so many people already believe it’s illegal to take pictures of things in public, even though in most cases it isn’t.
Fear will do that.
You’ll never pay for the farm,
This is dF
The rationale for this, apparently, is to keep other farmers from stealing yr trade secrets. Or prevent PETA from posting embarrassing videos about yr operations.
Because wouldn’t that be just awful for America’s farmers?
The worry, of course, is that the bill is so vaguely worded that it would make even taking photos from the side of a road or in the air a felony. And as Judy Dalglish, executive director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, points out, there are already trespass laws to cover unauthorized people on yr property whether they’re taking photos or not.
Which is why it sounds more to me like another instance of the general Fear Of Photography that has swept certain parts of America (and the UK) since 9/11 when politicians and law enforcement officials were terrified into believing that taking pictures of things (bridges, buildings, police officers, fish, etc) was potential reconnaissance for a terrorist attack or some other criminal activity, which is why so many people already believe it’s illegal to take pictures of things in public, even though in most cases it isn’t.
Fear will do that.
You’ll never pay for the farm,
This is dF
