“I think I hear someone’s liberty in danger!”
February 14, 2012 7:36 AM   Subscribe

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the Gregory Brothers and the ACLU have teamed up to bring attention to the issue photographer’s rights in public spaces, with an animated musical piece featuring the ghost of Benjamin Franklin. [via]
posted by quin (20 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the ACLU. Two great tastes that taste great together.

Also, this information becomes more and more relevant for everyone. Glad to see it's out there in as many formats as possible.
posted by WidgetAlley at 7:38 AM on February 14, 2012 [4 favorites]


Benjamin Franklin, paranormal photographer?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:44 AM on February 14, 2012




Knowing your rights is pretty important, but without knowing how to sue the police for wrongful takeage (or arrest) nothing will really change.
posted by DU at 8:10 AM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]


So it's a good thing th ACLU is involved, right? They can probably help with the suing thing.
posted by rtha at 8:12 AM on February 14, 2012


I will never argue with anyone's right to take pictures in public, and I will never argue anyone's rights to breastfeed in public.

But I once had a man try to take a picture of me breastfeeding in public with a camera phone because he thought it was so wonderful to see a baby "drinking her own mother's milk", and I will admit to feeling pretty creeped out by that. The picture taking, not that he thought it was wonderful.
posted by zizzle at 8:23 AM on February 14, 2012


They can probably help with the suing thing.

Hey, you are right! Maybe they can! If only they had a video about that step!
posted by DU at 8:24 AM on February 14, 2012


As part of a #SunshineBloc team out Livestreaming Occupy Oakland and other political events in the Bay Area, THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!

TRANSPARENCY, AHOY!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:45 AM on February 14, 2012


I will never argue with anyone's right to take pictures in public, and I will never argue anyone's rights to breastfeed in public.

But I once had a man try to take a picture of me breastfeeding in public with a camera phone because he thought it was so wonderful to see a baby "drinking her own mother's milk", and I will admit to feeling pretty creeped out by that.


Wait, were those his words? I'd say that makes him even creepier, but when you're working from the baseline of having "Photographing nursing mothers without their consent" on your to-do list...
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 8:46 AM on February 14, 2012


Hey, you are right! Maybe they can! If only they had a video about that step!

I guess I'm not getting your point.
posted by rtha at 8:57 AM on February 14, 2012


Wait, were those his words? I'd say that makes him even creepier, but when you're working from the baseline of having "Photographing nursing mothers without their consent" on your to-do list...

His words were more like, "Oh, look at that! It's so sweet to see a baby drinking her mother's own natural milk! How absolutely wonderful!" This is when he is across the aisle and several seats down from me, so he also drew attention to the fact I was nursing to everyone within earshot of that part of the train car.

To be fair, the guy definitely appeared to have cognitive delays and he definitely seemed to have social boundary issues associated with those delays, so I tried to be polite as I put the tail of the sling over my daughter's head --- something she is usually completely opposed to, which is why it wasn't there in the first place --- and said she was trying to sleep but the lights were making it difficult to do.

I mean, I felt odd about it, and I talked to Dr.E about it when I got home, and we were both, "Well, yeah. You were on the train. He was on the train. The train is a public place. He has the right to take pictures. You have the right to nurse. But even so, you just don't do that!"

I don't think there was any malicious intent, but it was one of the more awkward moments of my life. And the reason I bring it up here is because it definitely made me realize the intersection of different sets of rights that isn't usually discussed, too. So it was real eye opener and made me more a proponent of the first amendment than I had been before, which is kinda hard to believe as I've always believed the first amendment is the most important of them all. When we lose sight of that, we all lose.

And that's why I didn't make a big deal out of the guy taking a picture of me nursing on the train.
posted by zizzle at 9:16 AM on February 14, 2012


Man, I don't know... taking pictures in public is a right, but people have a right to refuse to model for a picture too. I mean, if somebody wants to take a picture of you discreetly from a distance, there's not much you can do, but if somebody wants to take a picture of you up close, I think it's perfectly within your rights to refuse, even if you're in public. (Obviously it's different if you're just an incidental part of the background of a picture.)
posted by kmz at 10:03 AM on February 14, 2012


Man, I don't know... taking pictures in public is a right, but people have a right to refuse to model for a picture too.

Sure, yeah, and if the photographer wants to be a dick about it, there's not necessarily much you can do about it. But if a rent-a-cop or a real cop or an Amtrak agent tells you you can't take a photo of that building (from a public sidewalk) or a photo out the window of your train, they're wrong and you're right. You might have to sue them to prove it, though.
posted by rtha at 11:46 AM on February 14, 2012


A nursing mother occupies the moral high ground in pretty much any social situation.

Not so, cops and wandering photographers.

How the law responds is yet another thing.
 
posted by Herodios at 1:36 PM on February 14, 2012


A nursing mother occupies the moral high ground in pretty much any social situation.

Not so, cops and wandering photographers.


Can you expand upon this?
posted by girlmightlive at 2:03 PM on February 14, 2012


A nursing mother occupies the moral high ground in pretty much any social situation.

Why, exactly?

I'm not proposing it be illegal, but I also can't think of a convincing argument as to why we shouldn't expect people to be discreet about it. Zoologically speaking the human breast is far more than a mere nutrient dispenser (or it would, like in all other primates, not be permanently enlarged).

Slapping your tits out in public because breastfeeding is natural, dammit! always strikes me as ideological posturing and little else.
posted by unigolyn at 4:19 AM on February 15, 2012


As long as the cop doesn't get his arm caught in your camera strap, you should be okay.

I mean, it's good to know your rights, but that will be a small consolation when you're laying there with a smoking hole in your forehead.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 7:07 AM on February 15, 2012 [1 favorite]


Slapping your tits out in public because breastfeeding is natural, dammit! always strikes me as ideological posturing and little else.

That's funny, I've always considered the "Dammit, keep those tits covered up in public OR ELSE!" position to be repressed, moralistic posturing, culturally-imposed body-shame, and little else.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:01 AM on February 15, 2012 [2 favorites]


Always nice to be reminding of how things are supposed to be.
posted by Goofyy at 8:36 AM on February 15, 2012


ACLU Info graphic : The NSA Unchained    Yey ACLU Art!

Unrelated : Denver family stranded after passport denied because of crease
posted by jeffburdges at 12:26 PM on February 21, 2012


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