NOW is the Time To Send Comments!
Thursday December 13 is the deadline for public comment on the most recent version of camera regulations proposed by the Mayor’s Office of Film. Thursday at 10am is also the public hearing, where you can testify into the public record. We hear the time limit is 3-5 minutes. You can contact MOFTB to reserve a spot, or just show up before 10am and sign up.
Picture New York is concerned about the needlessly opaque language in the new regulations, and even more concerned about what will happen when this all shakes out on the street. MOFTB bases need for a permit on the concept of obstruction but
does not make clear in the actual rules that the mere presence of a filmmaker or photographer, even with a tripod, does not constitute an ‘obstruction.’
Perhaps you noted the recent ruling about someone standing on the sidewalk who was arrested. New York State’s highest court threw out the conviction but it took a few years to get through the courts. We’d like to avoid this kind of situation.
Picture New York is calling for an affirmative statement in the final rules that mere occupancy of the sidewalk is not “asserting exclusive control” and does not constitute obstruction — especially when it comes to a person exercising their 1st Amendment right to photograph on public streets.
The NYCLU filed another lawsuit last week on behalf of a person with a camera, unlawfully handcuffed and detained in July for taking pictures. Check it out here.
A recent town meeting with the MOFTB gave little indication that they respect the tradition of street photography in New York or see the right to take pictures as a basic, protected freedom.
It’s clear that our collective effort this summer resulted in the rollback of the first misguided attempt at regulation, but we don’t want to rest on our laurels when there’s a chance to make the situation better, more clear, and not a threat to civil liberties. We’d like everyone to keep in mind that this is about far more than the film industry in NYC — it’s about the 1st Amendment.
photo credit: Donna Tine
- posted Tue., Dec 11, 2007 at 8:34am
- filed in About the Rules, About Us
- [6] Comments
December 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
This is what I sent:
The new PROPOSED RULES RELATING TO PERMITS ISSUED BY THE MAYOR’S OFFICE OF FILM, THEATRE & BROADCASTING are draconian and go too far. Citizens and non-citizens should be allowed to photograph any facility whenever and wherever they wish. The way these rules are going to be enforced will be to the detriment of law abiding citizens. If your wish is to make sites more secure and safer, than you should instead be focusing your attention on providing for more proper enforcement of sensitive sites by lobbying the city, state and federal governments to provide for that funding. Those who wish to harm this country, this city and it’s residents or visitors, obtain the information you’re wishing to protect in a variety of ways. These regulations will do nothing to stop the gathering of that information, but will have the unintended (intended?) consequence of illegally profiling unsuspecting citizens and visitors as law breakers. Further, we have already seen that these regulations (not even fully enforced) are being misconstrued by law enforcement and trapping innocent people in a web of post-9/11 paranoia.
It’s a sad day when some of the most celebrated artists in the world cannot set a small tripod in a park without a permit, and/or be subjected to harassment by ill-informed enforcement officers. We have already seen several persons of color apprehended for innocent picture-taking. How much farther will this go?
I urge you to make the right decision here and allow for law-abiding citizens and visitors to record their memories and artistic endeavors in any way they choose in cooperation with other prevailing laws of behavior and compliance.
PS And another thing, can you stop issuing bi-monthly permits I my neighborhood? It’s like a friggin’ film studio down here!
December 12th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
The mayor’s office of NYC thinks people with cameras are obstructions. This internet video maker disagrees, and I’ll be telling them so tomorrow.
An excerpt of my testimony for the hearing is below.
A blog about it (with my whole testimony):
http://www.moli.com/p/moliview/2_198446/article
Best,
Juliana Luecking
http://www.moli.com/p/moliview/2/category
***
Excerpt:
How We Got Here, and What We Should Do
Today, I want talk about two things: Why the Mayor’s Office for Film, Theatre & Broadcasting (MOFTB) is proposing regulations on hand-held cameras, and how to resolve this issue once and for all. First, I will list the series of unfortunate mistakes that led to this hearing. Second, I will recommend what we must do in order to restore our commitment to the US Constitution.
First, the Mistakes
Mistake Number One
On May 13, 2005, NYPD Detective Daniel D’Alessandro saw Indian filmmaker Rakesh Sharma standing on a sidewalk taking pictures. The detective took Mr Sharma’s passport and broke his camera. Together with other officers, the detective held Mr Sharma for three hours, and invaded his privacy by viewing his videotapes.
Mistake Number Two
When Mr. Sharma sued the City of New York, part of the settlement was an agreement that hand-held camera use would be regulated by the MOFTB.
Mistake Number Three
The MOFTB wrote regulations on hand-held cameras which suppress our rights to freedom speech and expression. The MOFTB has made this mistake twice. In the first round, there were time and location prohibitions. In the second round, we are given highly confusing sidewalk space restrictions, and people with cameras are termed as “obstructions.”
Those were the mistakes. This is the solution. The MOFTB must extract all regulations that restrict the rights of people with cameras in public areas. In their place, the MOFTB can add a statement affirming their rights.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Another letter to the MOFTB:
I support the rights of photographers and filmmakers on the streets of
NYC.
The mere act of standing on the sidewalk, documenting one of the
greatest cities in the world, should not put someone holding a camera
in a position where they are subject to arrest at the discretion of any
passing official or policeman.
Please protect the rights of photographers and filmmakers, many of whom
have contributed to the history of this amazing city and all of whom
help make New York a place where arts and freedom can both be freely
practiced.
The Mayor’s Film Office needs to consider and carefully clarify its
policies to ensure the continued health of civil liberties and freedom
for the arts in New York. Please rewrite the proposed regulations on
street photography.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
“FIRST, WE TAKE THE ARTISTS…”
Filmmakers and photographers using handheld equipment should not be required to
obtain permission from the City of New York.
The City of New York is considering new permit and insurance regulations for
photographers and filmmakers that would force citizens to give up their
constitutionally protected rights to photograph and film in public places.
These proposed regulations are not really about public safety. Upon close
review of the drafted regulations, they seem better suited to suppress free
speech and provide law enforcement officers an easy basis of “suspicion” to
arrest and detain anyone with a cell phone camera.
In a city like New York, overcrowding of public spaces occur on a regular
basis, with or without photos being taken. Requiring a person to have a film
permit if the shooting activity “will obstruct pedestrian or vehicular
traffic” is unlawful and creates ambiguity, for who is to say what caused the
obstruction?
An empty storefront in Lower Manhattan served as an exhibit space for over 500
professional and amateur street photographers who came together to use their
snapshots after 9/11 to express collective grief and document history. “Here
is New York” raised money for charity, toured worldwide, and was published in
book. Most importantly, it reinforced the need for street photography as a
necessary and vital part of human expression.
Why are the proposed regulations inherently a violation of our constitutional
rights of expression? Basic concepts expanded through a long succession of
court decisions include suppressions of speech by a State/City government as a
violation of the First Amendment. “Freedom of Speech” includes expressions
that are verbal, non-verbal, visual and symbolic. In a recent study, only one in a
thousand Americans was able to name all five of the freedoms guaranteed in the
First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Lack of sufficient education and
enforcement of our American freedoms and when they apply creates a danger that
citizens might passively give up those very freedoms our predecessors gave
their lives to ensure that we would have.
If we don’t increase our efforts to inform and enlighten people about their
basic rights, tyrants will not squander their opportunity to create a prison
planet starting right here in New York City.
Signed: Colleen M. Delaney
Manhattan resident/attorney/filmmaker/photographer
PO Box 404 NYC 10014
December 21st, 2007 at 11:56 am
[…] back in the city . . . the public hearing about proposed regulations on street photography. Despite the slushy weather, indie filmmakers, […]
February 8th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
LOOK!
A “photographers’ rights free expression mobilization” responding to the harassment of video artist/teacher Katherin McInnis by an MTA police officer last Sunday, February 3rd on public property within the Atlantic Yards footprint. We will discuss photographers’ rights and the Atlantic Yards situation, then walk and photograph within the footprint. Depending on circumstances, we may have the opportunity to engage in respectful information exchange with MTA police and/or private security personnel. End point: Freddy’s Bar and Backroom, 485 Dean Street, corner of Sixth Avenue.
EVERYONE WELCOME
More here >
http://britinbrooklyn.squarespace.com/britinbrooklyn_photo_blog/2008/2/7/atlantic-yards-camera-club-everyone-is-invited.html