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We've been a bit remiss in keeping up with all our blog reading, or we would have caught this story on BoingBoing ourselves. But it was big enough to have been forwarded to us by friends of SFist Ross and Jeff.
Seems local freelance photographer Steve Malik was taking Muni from Montgomery Station to the Castro. "While we were on the platform waiting for our train I figured I’d grab a few photos of the crowds. There has been talk of a fare increase and you never know when some current Muni photos might sell." That's pretty much when all hell broke loose. From Steve's letter to the Metropolitan Transit Agency [PDF]:
At approximately 5:15 pm on February 5th 2005, I was taking photographs on the west end of the railway platform at Montgomery Station in San Francisco. I was approached by two Municipal Railway Fare Inspectors bearing badges #8 and #29. #8 told me that taking photographs underground was not allowed. I asked what law she was referring to. She said, "Since 9/11, photographs underground in Muni Stations are not allowed." I repeated my question, "Tell me what law you are referring to and I'll stop." # 8 offered the same answer. #29 then stated, "If you take another photograph I will cite you." I asked them both “Under what law -- Federal, State, Municipal Code or otherwise – would I be cited?” #8 informed me that it was a "Muni Law". I advised them that if I was breaking the law that I would like to be cited. #29 requested my identification, upon which I proffered my California Drivers License. He requested that I follow him upstairs, which I willingly did.
Upstairs, Steve reports that the SFPD and BART police were called in, and together the three agencies looked for a statute banning photography but couldn't find one. That's when it got even creepier [PDF]:
After walking over to the group of Fare Inspectors and BART Police Officers, Officer Ryan returned to speak to me. He expressed his frustration at the situation and me by saying: "Would it have been so difficult for you to just stop taking photographs when these guys told you to stop? If you weren't on your soapbox, I'd be out fighting real crime rather than standing around here dealing with you." He expounded further, "Even if there is no law forbidding photography in the MUNI System, the Fare Inspectors have the right to refuse you service for any reason they choose, including taking photographs. Once they refuse you service they can swear out a citizens arrest for trespassing. I, or other officers, will book you and you'll spend the rest of your weekend in jail. It won't be for taking photographs, so your weekend would be ruined yet you'd never get a chance to argue the matter of taking photographs before a judge."
So is there a photography ban in place on underground Muni stations or isn't there? This all reminds of us a somewhat similar tale by a photography student in Seattle. And SFist Matt wonders if the Muni people can really kick anybody off for any reason.
We have emails out to Peter Ragone at the Mayor's office, MTA Executive Director Michael Burns and the SFPD Public Affairs Bureau seeking their comments on the matter. SFist would like to ask that anyone interested in finding out join us at noon on Saturday at the Muni Fare gate at the Embarcadero Station. Bring a camera, and we'll take a ride on the train and take some pictures, just like Gothamist did when New York City promised to start enforcing it's ban on subway photography.
Photo from Pushby.com by Tomas Apodaca.
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that is crazy. also really silly. they're going to bust people with obvious cameras, but not with cel phone cameras. i mean, how can you tell that someone is taking a photo with a cel phone? i've shot multiple 15 second videos on my cel phone while riding bart and no one could tell.
Unbelievable.
I've been hearing a lot of these stories lately, typically started in motion by security guards rather than real police. I would have made sure to take a photo of the guards with the police officers, but I'm a bit of a jerk who doesn't know when to quit.
I, too was hassled by Muni agents back in October at the Embarcadero station, as I mentioned on PhotoPermit.Org. I can understand that Muni has the ability to make their rules in the paid area (for instance, they can say you can't eat there) as obnoxious as they can be, but they also told me I couldn't take photos in the non-paid public areas of the station. As we know, photographing nearly anything from a public place is legal, and I wasn't even photographing the terminal (just the Jet Blue ad posters for an online advertising class I was building). They didn't tell me it was against the law, but that it was a "Security Violation" and that their supervisor didn't want any photography at all. I sent a note to Muni, and I got two boilerplate letters saying I could get the required permit from their Public Relations department. I am actually surprised it has taken this long for folks to notice how badly Muni is behaving on this!
Hi :)
Well it appears the NYC has backed off their subway photo ban, http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_142085748.html
perhaps with a little pressure and examples http://news.deviantart.com/article/16928/ MUNI too will drop this policy.
Well, in San Francisco the idea that this is actually the law has trickled down to riders, as I was admonished and ended up in quite a verbal confrontation with three riders on the light rail. One of them just piped up and yelled at me "NO PHOTOGRAPHS!" to which I explained I have a right to take photographs in public places, and proceeded to pull out my recently printed rights of photographers in the US. This gentleman proceeded to tell me that (1) it was against the law and (2) he didn't care about my rights (and several folks joined in with him explaining that I had a right to be an asshole, and I kindly explained that so did they, and by god they were exercising their rights as well). One person asked my why I couldn't just be nice about it, and, well, because it's not the law and indeed I have a right to take photos on the train. I wasn't going to back down to be nice just because someone thinks they can rattle off what they believe the law to be.
Just call 311 and ask them whether there's a law whether photography is acceptable underground. I guarantee you they'll feel embarassed. ;)
Same thing happened to me today! Always defend your 1st amendment rights.