Keep Your Corporate Tentacles Off The Internet!

    America, from Columbus until WWI was the Wild West because we didn’t know if anything would survive, supported only by capitalism. There was still no clear business model for making hundreds of millions or billions of dollars so people kept moving west until a way was invented in California: Hollywood Culture.

    What we see and what we hear is what they claim is theirs.

    The entertainment industry was able to become so rich and wealthy in part because they were always able to set the price. They make all that money because they charged us all that money for their product. Well, the internet induced a market correction because paying $10 at a theater is now only ONE way to watch the latest movie and listen to its soundtrack and it’s the only one that guarantees the entertainment industry will get your money.

    SOPA/PIPA gives the entertainment industry a way to protect their failed business model by censoring the internet. That’s how I see it. The internet is collapsing their bloated system that rose from the ashes of a bloated studio system. They think the internet should be changed or molded to fit their business model. I say, fuck that!

    More people, including myself are taking photographs, shooting video and writing words specifically for the internet than Hollywood has stars in the sky so guess what? We win. They don’t get to take away what we’ve built just because it’s costing them money and I’ll tell you why: Their products are not worth what they charge. The internet doesn’t cost people money the internet makes people money.

    Don’t let the entertainment industry, the government or corporations get their tentacles around the internet. A free internet is the voice that people have been supposed to have ever since America became “We the people.” The internet is working because we use it in a way that allows it to work and it is a multi-function tool that every American should be able to use AT THEIR OWN DESCRETION as necessary. Please, we stand to lose everything if SOPA/PIPA becomes law so by all means, spread the word via your blogs and Twitter: STOP SOPA/PIPA!

    Take actual action beyond your blog by contacting all of your elected officials, right on up to the president: Stop American Censorship!

San Diego Trolley Guards

        San Diego Reader has just published a story that was started by my video, which can be viewed above. Please click this link to read the SD Reader story. The title of the story is, “We Don’t Want You Talking Pictures.” and it is written by Kathryn Snyder. It reports about my video and how the trolley guards tried to stop me from filming or taking pictures. The article goes on to say that the incident report for the evening is not available for one of two reasons: “…based on the California Public Records Act, which exempts documents from disclosure that are either: (1) records pertaining to current litigation to which the public agency is a party; or (2) records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, and any state, or local police agency.”

        These are links to posts and videos that lead up to the SD Reader story:

My original blog post can be read by clicking here.
Story featured on Carlos Miller’s “Photography Is Not A Crime” website can be read here.
The San Diego Reader Story can be read by clicking here or by clicking the photo below.
For the follow-up story on “Photography Is Not A Crime” website click here.
To visit the Illegal Photography page referenced in the San Diego Reader story, click the following link: www.theworldisraw.com/illegal-photography/

          It would seem that San Diego Trolley Police need a few lessons in local law. The man on the ground, was smoking in the 12th & Imperial Transit Center in San Diego, CA. This happened on September 5th, 2009 at 8:20pm. Assuming that what you see the San Diego Trolley Transit Police doing is legal and assuming the transit police are keeping other public commuters safe, there should be no issue with photography taking place. If a protector of the public, whose salary is drawn from the taxes of the public is also prohibiting the public from LEGAL activities, then San Diego trolley police are breaking the law. Heritage Security has a 5 year, $25 million with San Diego which was signed in January, 2006. The hierarchy seems to be: Unarmed trolley officer, armed trolley officer, armed supervisor, armed lieutenant and armed captain. If I read the contract correctly, unarmed San Diego trolley police officers receive a 2.5% annual pay increase, while armed trolley police officers receive a 3.5% annual pay increase. There are also small pay increases every 6 months, assuming performance is satisfactory. As San Diego trolley police have constant interaction with the public, why do they prohibit photography of themselves if they are performing their job in a satisfactory manner? The contract makes no mention of a photography ban nor does it state what qualifies satisfactory performance versus unsatisfactory performance.

Some highlights from the video above are:

1) For the first 40 seconds or so, the man on the ground makes numerous requests for the officer closest to me to get his knee off of his head, and specifically, his scar which was obtained during a recent surgery to remove cancer.
2) At the 15 second mark, a female officer crosses the Trolley tracks and says, “Get away with that camera!” I can be heard to ask, “How far?” The San Diego Trolley Police Officer says, “You’re not allowed to take pictures.”
3) At the two minute mark, right after a bus passes between me and the officers and their handcuffed smoker, the same female officer from before (now on the left side of the screen) looks at me, walks to her colleagues as says something. A second later three officers turn around and look right at me. The female officer points at me, which causes a one of her own to approach me for the ensuing challenge.

        UPDATE! Read my follow-up post here. My video is featured on NBC 7/39 San Diego News. Watch my interview and read a statement made by Heritage Security regarding the situation. Suffice to say that photography at San Diego Trolley Stations is in fact 100% LEGAL!

Trolley Stations Are Public Property

          Photography is not illegal. You’ll hear me say that a half dozen times or so in the video, as well as asking if I am in violation of any law. Two of the San Diego Trolley Cops told me I was not allowed to take pictures. Interesting. We public commuters can look at them, show them our tickets, obey orders given by them, be tackled to the ground by them and placed, in handcuffs inside SUV’s with dark tinted windows, BUT WE CAN NOT PHOTOGRAPH THEM DOING ANY OF IT! Or so they say, at least in this video.

          San Diego trolley police officers that don’t want pictures taken of them while they do their job are out of luck. If they are captured on film while tackling some one to the ground, why would photography be prohibited unless they were doing something illegal? I have emailed Heritage Security asking this question but got no reply. I would appeal to visit the contact page of Heritage Security and ask them. On that page you will find and email link with text that says hr@heritagesecurity.com, but when you hover over the link it says the email is jsullins@heritagesecurity.com. I hope their trolley police officer selection process is not as disorganized as their website.

A Transit Station At Night Can Be Scary Enough on It’s Own

I returned to the scene of the crime.  As I monitored the progress of the latest Cop Condominium in my neighborhood, I was again challenged by an officer of the law.  The challenge was actually more of a wrestling match, but I had my own back-up present, so I won the challenge.

Taxpayer Money During A Recession: $12.3 million

What really got me was the complete lack of progress on the police station’s construction.  Maybe the cops in the area should threaten & belittle the construction workers like they do photographers, blacks, homeless people and Norwegians.

So, despite the fact that I was feeling bulletproof from standing toe-toe with a cop and emerging victorious, I wasn’t done for the night,  I found a cannon sitting nearby, so I took an image of it & the moon

This is a very old cannon,  What is a cannon anyway?

Maybe if I had the time to deceive people tonight, I would have PS’d a better rendition of the moon.

Hiding Behind an Industrial Truck So The Police Won’t Interrogate Me

Here is your lesson of the night people:  If you are in America and a Cop detains you, DO NOT SAY ANYTHING without an attorney present!

There are a few things you must remember when using your camera at night, one of them is the mentality of a cop.  This police station is being built right around the corner from current residence of the local police force.  Standing well outside the chain-link barrier, I snapped images of this giant, metal arachnid, all the while noticing that a police cruiser was creeping up on me from about my 5 o’clock.

When challenged by the voice hidden behind a beaming spotlight as to what I was doing, I said I was performing the art of photography.  The arrogant man then asked why I was taking pictures of a construction site at night.  I did not understand what he meant, which is what I told him.  A verbal explanation by my new, spotlight wielding friend made me understand that this particular crime-fighter thought that my camera, which was slung across my body looked like a gun, which is why he was questioning me now.

I politely asked him, “What kind of gun?”

“Excuse me”, he asked?

“What kind of gun is it that you think my digital camera looks like?”

For some reason, this caused him to launch into a typical authority-figure-in-a-no-consequence-environment lecture that was so boringly parental, it caused me to drift off at least twice while I was being spoken to.

Afterward he left & I continued my shoot.  “Viva La Revolucion” was what I shouted into the night as he drove away.  As a non Spanish speaker, I can only guess at what that actually means.  With any luck at all, it means that photography is NOT illegal.

So after that I went and mixed a little bit of flash with a WHOLE LOT of shutter time at a nearby fountain.  This constant flow of water was just what I needed to wrap up my impromptu night-shoot.