photographer rights

as usual, was tipped off to this by TOP - pretty frightening post over at gizmodo:

http://gizmodo.com/5553765/are-cameras-the-new-guns

Carlos Miller at the Photography Is Not A Crime website offers an explanation: "For the second time in less than a month, a police officer was convicted from evidence obtained from a videotape. The first officer to be convicted was New York City Police Officer Patrick Pogan, who would never have stood trial had it not been for a video posted on Youtube showing him body slamming a bicyclist before charging him with assault on an officer. The second officer to be convicted was Ottawa Hills (Ohio) Police Officer Thomas White, who shot a motorcyclist in the back after a traffic stop, permanently paralyzing the 24-year-old man."

this is Carlos's website:

http://carlosmiller.com/

I guess I'm kind of lucky as I've only ever been stopped once by police for taking pictures, and I hadn't even taken any pictures of the police in question when I was stopped. but as someone who photographs regularly in public places, this growing antipathy towards photography in public places makes my skin crawl. I know that this issue is a hot topic in the UK - anybody care to weigh in?

so is america like airstrip one or?

I dunno but I think we can all agree that it's pretty crazy that

The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited.

when, uhm

wiretapping |ˈwīrˌtapi ng |
noun
the practice of connecting a listening device to a telephone line to secretly monitor a conversation.

good reading, and related:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/06/the_war_on_phot.html

What are our rights vis-a-vis shooting IN public, shooting "private" concerns from public spaces, NOT setting down a tripod and causing "obstruction" etc.

I was stopped by a cop in San Pedro Harbor as I "shouldn't be filming anything commercial" and I was shooting some ships coming in and some dockworkers through a crosswire fence. But where I was standing was public property. I gave my name and showed my Green Card but it later occurred to me that I didn't have to do this. Are there any good resources or guides to the current photographer's rights US-wide and in various states?

Ah - useful:

http://www.cob.org/documents/mayor/eob/legal-rights-of-photographers.pdf

Not at all incidentally, especially not to me, watch your ass in Illinois:

http://www.pixiq.com/article/illinois-wiretapping-law-reaching-a-boiling-point

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15236758