The War On Photography

[shuttertalk]

More commentary and controversy about the paranoia against photographers doing their thing in public. His main argument is that there is little evidence that terrorists actually use photography for surveillance, so why should photographers suffer for it?

Quote:The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn't photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Photographs aren't being found amongst the papers of Palestinian suicide bombers. The IRA wasn't known for its photography. Even those manufactured terrorist plots that the US government likes to talk about -- the Ft. Dix terrorists, the JFK airport bombers, the Miami 7, the Lackawanna 6 -- no photography.
Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don't seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets?

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/20..._phot.html

[jbslord]

It's not about your photography, it's all about their self importance in being attempting to deny you the ability to take a photograph..

(Jun 5, 2008 06:47)shuttertalk Wrote:  More commentary and controversy about the paranoia against photographers doing their thing in public. His main argument is that there is little evidence that terrorists actually use photography for surveillance, so why should photographers suffer for it?

Quote:The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn't photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Photographs aren't being found amongst the papers of Palestinian suicide bombers. The IRA wasn't known for its photography. Even those manufactured terrorist plots that the US government likes to talk about -- the Ft. Dix terrorists, the JFK airport bombers, the Miami 7, the Lackawanna 6 -- no photography.
Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don't seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets?

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/20..._phot.html