NPPA protests TSA poster depicting "Suspicious" Photographer, could private investigators become suspected terrorists while conducting photo surveillances?
The National Press Photographers Association has informed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that it objects to a Transportation Security Administration poster that depicts a photographer as a suspected terrorist.
The poster and free-standing counter cards, distributed by TSA, features a photograph of a person holding a camera, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, standing by an airport fence with a small private airplane in the background. The text reads, "Don't let our planes get into the wrong hands."
"It is my understanding that airport administrators have been directed to post and prominently display this material around airports 'one poster per entrance,'" said NPPA's general counsel Mickey H. Osterreicher, who voiced the organization's complaint to Napolitano.
NPPA has asked Napolitano to immediately order the removal of the objectionable TSA posters from display.
“Photography by itself is not a suspicious activity, and is protected by the First Amendment. Unfortunately the reliance by law enforcement officers to question, detain and interfere with lawful activities by photographers under the guise of preventing terrorist activities has become a daily occurrence. The abridgement of a constitutionally protected activity because of that erroneous belief is only reinforced by your generalized statements and the depiction of photography as some sinister act.”
Link: http://nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2010/09/poster.html