"Jose" wrote in message
t...
How is that any different than your neighbors setting up a neighborhood
watch program?

When I get accosted by a cop because I took a picture in somebody else's
neighborhood, it is no different. Perhaps cameras should be registered
weapons.

Had you a journalist with you, he or she might have reminded the officer
that -anything that is in plain public view- is legal, fair game for both
photography and publication.

For example, if instead of driving through the neighborhood you'd have flown
over it, who knows what you might see in people's backyards, but, guess
what: They can't stop you from photographing it. The paparazzi, Google
Earth, news helicopters, etc prove this daily.

The benchmark cases for this, by the way, include a photo somebody shot of a
dead fish in a window fishbowl where there had been a housefire, and another
photo of the "shadow" of where a woman had died and the fire burned around
her. The fire investigators left the front door open, and the photographer
was able to shoot the image from a public sidewalk.

A third case had to do with a Chicago streetcar fire in which many people
perished trying to escape. Utterly horrific photograph that had no place in
general news photography, but a local newspaper showed the photo the next
day. Can't find the case on the internet, though. Wouldn't want to see the
photo again.


-c