You can watch bridges and subways on MTA webcams, but cannot take a photo yourself anymore. Each citizen is seen as a terrorist nowadays.
Amy Langfield’s New York Notebook — This all sounds like the Soviet Union to me.
And while I understand the inclination to ban cameras in certain places for security purposes, there needs to be some logic to it. For example, there are signs as you enter the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel that say you can’t take pictures. But you don’t really need to, since you can just look at the picture on the Port Authority’s Web site. Or check out their Web cams of all the city’s bridges and tunnels.
Why aren’t people screaming about this? I don’t mean the logic, which is stupid but not really important, I mean the fact that someone is taking away your civil rights one at a time???
I truly don’t believe that you (the American people) should let one event dictate your entire way of living, and I certainly don’t think that it’s acceptable to erode everyone’s civil liberies. If you end up living in a police state, is that what you want? No pictures here, carry government issue ID at all times, getting arrested simply upon suspicion of doing something wrong (no evidence required), survallience of your every move, etc, etc.
What way of life is there left to protect at that point?
This goes back to something I have said many times. Law enforcement has no concept of common sense. So, when someone tells the Police to watch out for suspicious people taking photos of buildings, they assume that anyone taking photos of buildings is suspicious and thus, all cameras should be banned.
“Why aren’t people screaming about this? I don’t mean the logic, which is stupid but not really important, I mean the fact that someone is taking away your civil rights one at a time???” -N
Because they don’t care. Freedom will never be enjoyed for long by a people who do not care whether they have freedom or not. Americans believe that government is created to dispense freedom like dinner portions. They have no concept of inalienable rights. Most high school graduates here could not define “inalienable.” Many would never have heard the word before….
I’m with those who say that Homeland Security and others ARE TOTALLY OFF THE RAILS in their attempt at national security. Banning photographs, confiscating nail clippers, racial profiling etc etc. is SO FAR OFF THE MARK it sends our law enforcement on goose chases and ends up being counter-productive.
Instead, we need to pro-actively identify, monitor, and infiltrate terrorist groups everywhere possible so we have a heads-up when they try to pull something. We need to make friends with as many Muslim governments as possible, so they can join us in this effort.
Trying to screen MILLIONS of MUSLIMS and every goofball with camera is too huge to be possible.