A ban on rail/transit photography will acomplish NOTHING to enhance national security. However, it will unduly curtail the freedoms that countless Americans fought and died to preserve. Such a ban smacks of East Germany and the Soviet Union and should not be tolerated in the United States!
Having police go after railfans taking pictures of trains is just a waste of their time and the taxpayer's money. That money and time could be put to better use by focusing on where the REAL dangers are. After all, if a terrorist wants to do harm to a transit system, the terrorist doesn't need pictures to do so (and probably has (or can get from public sources) all the info needed to carry out an attack).
I take pictures of trains for my own personal use! I ONLY take these pictures from public property at a safe distance. I should not be told to leave or have my camera confiscated for these reasons! Thanks!
I agree with any railfan who feels disgusted withg this ban. How are our activities which have been going on for years NOW all of a sudden pose a threat to security.
Anybody wanting the information to do damage to the nations railroads and transit systems can already find it in existing public records or by surreptitious photography. All this ban would do would be to waste police resources and offend those that would help. It is a simply a "look like we are doing something about it" act that is completely useless.
Transit fans love transportation and the community. Terrorists destroy transportation and the community.
Don't get mixed up or the terrorists will cheer up!
Terrorism is the commission of a crime to achieve a particular end - to end an occupation, to secure the release of prisoners, to cause a change of government, or to advance a particular cause. If we believe, as President Bush has said over and over again, that al Qaeda is attacking us and our allies because we are free countries and because of what that represents, it is nothing less than submission to their goals to surrender our freedoms in the name of "homeland security." If it is simply fear of terrorism and what terrorists may do to us that leads us to incrementally cede the freedoms guaranteed to us by the US Constitution, i.e. we are afraid of the terrorists and what they might do, aren't we giving them exactly what they want? "Terror" is the first part of "terrorism," and if we live in "terror," then it's quite logical to conclude that the "terrorists" have won.
On top of that, bans like this do very little, if anything, to improve actual security, The trouble is, most of the changes that really increase security are not visible to the average citizen, and as a result the less-informed are inclined to conclude that nothing at all is being done. So it is because of paranoia, and misinformed public outcry, that these marginally effective (if not countereffective because of the diversion of money and resources from security measures that actually do work), but highly visible (and thus apparent to the average, uninformed citizen), so-called security measures are implemented. This includes much of the passenger screening hullabaloo at the nation's airports, landmarks, and perhaps soon rail stations, the proposed photography ban, much of the blatantly unconstitutional, and often downright scary, Patriot Act.
Even if you think photographing trains is no big deal and a right you'd willingly give up, keep in mind that such cessions of freedom are never isolated, but rather come in increasi
Unbeliveable. The government has found another way to invade and disrupt our lives. This is a ridiculous ban. There is no possible way to stop everyone from taking pictures of trains and/or any other type of transportation and nor will there ever be a way. What's next? A ban on all photography?
Read the US Constitution- "WE the PEOPLE of the United States of America"!
Or should it re-writes, "I, the terrorist and power grabber gov't, of the US?" No way!
Has it ever been brought out that photography had anything to do with the attack on 9/11.
I never heard of any such charge.
Why would it be any different with railroads or transit?
If terrorists are going to do anything to the railroads or transit sysems, they can do it without pictures.
Terrorists dont take pictures of buses to blow them up! They get on board a bus to blow it up, they walk up to it and blow it up, they drive their bicycle into the bus to blow it up, etc..
Id be less worried about a person photographing a bus and more concerned about more practical issues.
If bus safety was important, you wouldnt have spent $20 million dollars for safety, while the air line industry gets billions.
This ban is a waste of time and money by people that have over active imaginations and have nothing better to do with their time then to think up ways terrorists may attack.
Id be more concerned with an middle eastern man opening a can of soda and throwing it into a crowd! Oh the drama!
As the MovingWheels.Com webmaster and owner, I believe photography ban would resolve no problem at all. It would just get more people pissed off against you.
I too work as an employee of a major railroad and I railfan quite often. The absurd idea of banning rail/transit photography is socialistic and despotic in nature. I will not stand for such actions and i WILL target anyone who proposes such laws for removal from office.
I am far from alone. Railfans DO vote!
Banning photography doesn't do a damn bit of good. I can get the blue prints for any rail car ever made and the timetables for all the trackage on the internet.
The fact that we have to sign a petition to protect our constitutional rights is an indicator of just how far down the road to dictatorship we have gone.
I am a veteran of US Army service, a reserve police officer, a worker in a streetcar museum, former memberr of the NRHS and NMRA, and have ridden fantrips all over the place,at which I have taken many pictures. I am a ham radio operator, duly Federally licensed, and worked 35 years in the communications and computer fields. I could do a lot more damage with any of several methods that I can with a camera. That I choose to snap pictures of that which is my hobby in no way makes me a danger to this nation or my locality.
Restricting rail (or transport) related photography would only serve to limit - unjustly and illegally - the law abiding citizens rights. The "terrorist" will just get his pictures off the internet. Photography does, however, document events on the railroad, including potential threats.
I truly believe that this is obsurd and this is an invasion of our right to freedom and the persuit of happiness. How can pictures be made illegal? This post 9-11 security increase is getting completely out of hand. Soon we won't be able to breath without asking for permission.
As railfans it is time we make our voices heard that we are the extra eyes and ears that are needed to watch out for our nation's transportation infrastructure. I believe we all agree that if we see something that doesn't look or feel right, we will notify the proper authorities to investigate.
Prohibitions on transit photography as a means of preventing terrorism misses the point in several ways. Amateur and professional transit photographers also serve as extra eyes and ears for local and transit law enforcement. There is nothing covert or secretive about their activities. Their motive is typically to document for posterity and the enjoyment of their chosen hobby the history and evolution of various sectors of the transit industry. The only concern about them is the occasional nitwit who refuses to follow basic principles of personal safety and respect for private property.
I assume that this idea has its inspiration in the prohibitions on photography of trains and other transit during World War II. Back then there was a legitimate reason for it. Spies could photograph movements of troops, munitions and industrial cargo and use the photography in efforts to sabotage such transport, and these spies had few other resources available.
That doesn’t hold true now. The military relies far less on publicly accessible transit such as trains, there is no massive wartime industrial effort like there was in World War II, and America’s public transit system is amply documented in photographs, books, websites and other media that are readily available for public reference.
What threat can a camera be to the infrastructure of American Transportation. There are much more serious pieces of information in the public domain than photographs of these transit systems.
No one has the right to deny someone the right to take pictures from private property, no one. This is not Socialist Russia or a Natzi occupied country.
Photography of transportation subjects has been going on since lenses fast enough to capture the action were developed. It does not aid terrorism; infact, railfans paying attention to rail infrastructure can be a help in preventing incidents either from vandelism or terrorism. The only real answer to terrorism is to develop a society that is willing to listen to the concerns of those who feal left out.
What the Transit property managers fail to realize is the fact that rail transit fans/advocates are in fact the additional eyes and ears for transit police. I would love to see the ACLU get in on this issue.
On the Texas Gulf Coast, the US Coast Guard is asking boaters to be on the lookout for suspicious activities around the various oil and chemical plants as well as bridges in the Gulf Coast area as the Coast Guard resources are streched thin by
the increased demands of their participation in Homeland Security.
Railfans are no different and have been known to contact rail road special agents when suspicious activity near rail yards is seen.
Many railfans are equipped with Cell Phones, CB or Ham radios which can be used to contact authorities.
Banning photography and rail fanning near mass transit serves no purpose as terrorists likely already know where transit weaknesses are before the current alerts..
Be real, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) even has an organized railfan club, in addition to the National Railway Historical Society members nationwide.
Howard Bingham, Houston, Texas.
Member: National Railway Historical Society, National Association of Rail Passengers, board member Texas Association of Rail Passengers (TXARP:
I can think of no greater violation of my freedoms as an American citizen, than banning something I have safely done for 30 years. This is NOT freedom. Ideas such as this and the people who try to impose such beliefs are the very foundation of a doomed society.
Thats ridiculous! People have been taking pictures of trains for over 70 years and now we cant! Honestly, only a stupid terrorist would stand on the side of the tracks with a big camera and a tripod and wave at the engineer as he goes by! And if he was the stupid he would NOT be smart enough to plant a bomb or hijack a train!
As webmaster of the internationally known and award-winning website metrodemontreal.com , I would have been unable to undertake this labour of love and make the beauty of our metro system known to the world had there been a rigidly enforced ban on photography in place. Metro hobbyists want only to share information and knowledge about these important parts of our urban heritage. Photography in transit systems poses no risk; attempts to ban it are of cosmetic value only. Please do not restrict photography of transit systems.
I feel that this again is an infringement on my fredoms as a us citizen. I feel that regualating what I can see through a lens is ann infringement on my freedom of speach.
Instead of criminalizing Train and Airplane photographers/watchers ... how about support them to help keep an eye on America's transportation infrastructure.
I have been taking photos of Transit related vehicles since 1988 and have always enjoyed it. I use alot of my photos to do drawings of buses and other vehicles. This is for my own hobby and pleasure. I am a non-for Profit Hobbiest and work hard for my money to spend on my hobby as well as paying my bills. Please, please, don't ban us from taking photos of Transit related vehicles. We do it for fun.
The more photographers out could cut down on crime of all sorts.
Further why single out rail. You had better check out every automobile, as it enters and express way.
