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February 14, 2005
MUNI ban on Photography?
I caught this on SFist today (thanks, Jackson!): a few days ago photographer Steve Malik found himself harassed by MUNI officials, the SFPD and BART police for taking pictures on MUNI. When Mr. Malik asked them what law or statute he violated, all three agencies could not come up with the specific regulation. They eventually informed Mr. Malik that MUNI officials had the right to refuse service to any individual they chose; and once that service is refused, that individual can be cited for trespassing and jailed!
There's a protest/ inquiry this Saturday at noon:
SFist would like to ask that anyone interested in finding out join us at noon on Saturday at the Muni Fare gate at the Embarcadero Station. Bring a camera, and we'll take a ride on the train and take some pictures, just like Gothamist did when New York City promised to start enforcing it's ban on subway photography.
I'll be there, bringing my camera and taking pictures...
Another useful link: Know your rights as a Photographer.
Posted by claudine at February 14, 2005 06:31 PM
Comments
Thanks for getting the word out, Claudine! There'll be an update with quotes from Steve, the Muni press spokesperson, and many many others tomorrow morning. The more the merrier. I'll be sending out a press release to all the local publications to see if we can get some coverage of the event.
Posted by: Jackson West at February 14, 2005 07:06 PM
If anyone gets busted at this protest, I'll represent them for free.
Posted by: greg at February 15, 2005 11:12 AM
How simply bizarre. I don't get it. Why do they care if people take photos? That's just absurd!
Posted by: sk8rn at February 15, 2005 12:57 PM
greg, hopefully it won't come to that, but i'll keep you in mind!
sk8rn, the answer MUNI gives is that "it's a 9/11 thing," which as we know, really means, "excuse to revoke your rights if we don't like what you're doing."
Posted by: claudine at February 15, 2005 11:38 PM