Translink to Photographers: you are criminals!
A Vancouver photographer (Andrew Ferguson) captured this image on his commute today.
Image Copyright Andrew Ferguson
The ad shows a photographer with an SLR taking a picture of a security camera, with the tagline, “Report the suspicious, not the strange”. You can examine the large image here. This will be a huge waste of police resources dealing with lame complaints about photographers.
We have been hearing about this happening in cities such as New York, and London, but now its happening in our own backyard. Translink may not be aware, but the last time that I checked, Photography is Not a Crime! I hope that this is a mistake, and doesn’t become more common because of the up coming Olympic winter games. Unfortunately, I’m expecting to see more of this, with the police trying to extend their powers using the games as an excuse. Its a slippery slope, and we are just getting started with less than a year to go before the games.
If you want to see the advertisement in person, you can see it at waterfront station. Anybody interested in a Skytrain station photowalk to take pictures of security cameras? Leave a comment, SLR’s only, and you need to wear a hoodie, and carry a camera bag.
That’s the spirit…let’s create a nice environment for people planning to blow things up. Did you know that an investigation into groups with terrorist affiliations in the US turned up a collection of stills and videos of SkyTrain?
The message in the campaign is simple…if you see someone doing something like that, report it. If the person has a reasonable purpose for taking pictures of wiring, security devices and other technical parts of the operation, all well and good.
Hi Ken -
Thanks for your comment, but just to be clear: If I want to take a pictures of Skytrain stations, etc. Will I be arrested? I’ve always been interested in Skytrain and its technology.
You know, your poster would make more sense if the person in the picture was using a camera phone to take a picture of a security camera. If a suspected terrorist wanted to take pictures of Skytrain without being caught, I don’t think they would use an SLR!
I still think that the campaign is one step forward to creating a nanny state, which is what terrorists want. The US has turned into a police state, so has London, and they are no safer than they were before.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin
We are certainly not our neighbours to the south, but this quote is most definitely appropriate for us too.
I’m not a lawyer but see http://ambientlight.ca/laws.php for a (hopefully accurate) summary of Canadian laws RE: photography.
Update:
The BuzzerBlog has joined the Vancouver Strobist discussion on these ads, and it sounds like it is an honest mistake by the translink marketing department.
BuzzerBlog has some more info on the new Translink security approach:
http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2008/12/police-dogs-text-message-crime-reporting-skytrain-ramps-up-security-measures-based-on-new-research
The Flickr Discussion is here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/511073@N24/discuss/72157615505511301/
More on this at CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/03/20/bc-surveillance-translink.html
Enjoyed the Photography Translink Scaremonger post. Not many blogs worth bookmarking but this is going on Delicious now!