Message posted by JB737 on December 12, 2007 at 4:03:37 PST:
Actually, the base commander does not need to "limit" anything...the law as written does that, with no action required from him. If you don't want to be in technical violation of the anti-photography (and anti-sketching and many other things) law, it says you need the permission of the base commander before taking a picture of his base. It does not specify any camera locations that are included or excluded from the jurisdiction of the law, so I presume that a photo of a base, taken from anywhere within the borders and/or other jurisdiction of the USA itself are the dividing line. Last I checked, Tikaboo was in the USA. Obviously, as far as photos from Tikaboo go, nobody asks for permission, nobody receives permission, and nobody so far has been charged with violating the law even if they post the photos online, publicize them, sell them and so forth. Except for distance, there is no legal difference between Tikaboo now, and Freedom Ridge and White Sides when they were open as public BLM lands in the past. There were times when there were incidents of harassment, confiscated film/videotape/cameras, obstruction of justice charges (when Glenn allegedly locked a car door to try preventing confiscation of cameras) and so forth when photos were taken from the closer locations. No such incidents have been reported at Tikaboo, Badger, Mt. Irish, Reveille Peak, or any other current very distant viewpoints. So de-facto, the military does tolerate and allow photography from Tikaboo, despite having a law at their disposal to have law enforcement arrest and charge anyone who does it, if they chose to. It's a "rules of engagement" issue, where the law is not enforced to the fullest extent that a lawyer might say it could be. Same as how the state police do not enforce speeding violations of less than 10mph over the 65mph speed limit on the Massachusetts Turnpike unless you do something else to tick them off first. Technically, they could cite you for 66mph, but in fact they let 74mpg go untouched, and freely tell you so after bagging you for a higher speed. In both cases, behavior is controlled to a good extent, by having a "rules of engagement" limit allowing slightly illegal behavior, with the ability to hit you with an extra charge if they want to, if you so something else they don't like. Take the normal photos from Tikaboo, or safely drive 72 in a 65, and you will probably never be charged with anything. Just don't give a trooper the finger while driving drunk 74mph in a loaded school bus and then expect not to have the speeding charge piled onto your DUI and reckless driving charges. Similarly, if you get a photo of some real national security secret at the base, I wouldn't recommend publishing it or selling it to an enemy, unless you want the anti-photography charge added to whatever espionage and treason charges they hit you with. JB737
In Reply to: Re: Cows and birds posted by Wardrop on December 08, 2007 at 15:33:23 PST:
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