Photography Rights

A couple of articles came out recently about photography in public places vs. law enforcement and private security firms. First, Popular Mechanics had an article entitled Taking Photos in Public Places Is Not A Crime.

The Washington Post also published an article on Freedom of Photography.

Both articles mostly address the issue of people photographing buildings, people and police doing their work. The Popular Mechanics article did mention an Amtrak incident.

The gist of the articles is that if you are standing in a public area, you can take pictures of whatever you like. This right, like most others, is not absolute; you can't jump into the middle of an arrest, for example, or otherwise interfere in police work. But in general if you are not in someone's way, snap away.

This is relevant to this blog because we as railfans face the same issues. The railways are concerned about trespassing (rightly so) and also about their public image. Some railfans have been accosted by railway police or private security firms, in some cases rightly but in many cases for no legal reason. Railfans need to ensure they are not trespassing when they are taking their pictures and video. We also need to know our rights.

I also wrote about this in May 2009.

Photography and the Police

I was reading an article in the Winnipeg Free Press about police and photography. The article talks about police seizing the videotape of a documentary filmmaker recording the destruction of a house. It is clear from the article that the police overstepped their bounds.

It reminded me of the various run-ins that railfans have had with police and railway police in particular. In some cases, (idiot) railfans have made a nuisance of themselves and deserved the attention. However, in many cases (such as this) railfans have been harassed for no good reason.

Know your rights. And follow the railfan etiquette.

Shortline Railway Act Revisions

As I mentioned, the New Brunswick Shortline Railways Act is being revised to allow some unspecified business improvements for shortlines, as well as permit the construction of new rail lines.

You can read what is being proposed as well as the status of bill 36. It had third reading on March 22 so it should receive royal assent soon.

The existing bill as written does not permit the creation of new short lines. The new wording defines a shortline railway as "a railway, within the legislative jurisdiction of the Province, that a railway company operates or intends to operate for the carriage of passengers or freight, and includes all railway lines that a railway company owns or proposes or is authorized to construct".

The other change allows the Minister of Transportation to override regulations, provided it is in the public interest (as determined by the Minister) and "is not likely to threaten safety". I suspect there are some onerous regulations that the province's shortlines would like to be exempted from.

In my next post, I'll talk about the new shortline railway that is being proposed to serve the Acadian Peninsula.