ACLU opposes Boston transit system photography restrictions
ACLU threatens to sue over limits to photographing the T – The Boston Globe:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has threatened to sue the MBTA over its unwritten policy limiting photographs on T property, saying the practice is a violation of the First Amendment and state constitution.
“We fully understand and support reasonable efforts by the MBTA to address concerns about criminal and terrorist activity,” wrote John Reinstein , legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, in a letter sent Friday to MBTA Transit Police Chief Joseph C. Carter . “We respectfully submit, however, that prohibiting photographs of or on transportation vehicles in full view of the public is neither reasonable nor necessary.”
He said the ACLU of Massachusetts will sue the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority if the issue remains unresolved. Reinstein said he sent the letter to Carter after being approached by several amateur photographers who said they had recently been prohibited from taking photographs of the T from public property or while lawfully traveling on the system.
“There’s absolutely no rationality to it,” Reinstein said in an interview yesterday. “It’s generally an unwritten rule about what’s allowable and what’s not.”
This interests me partly, of course, because of my own experience getting tossed out of the Park Street subway station. I didn’t contact the ACLU, though. Maybe next time.