DEBATING THE RIGHT TO TAKE PICTURES AT SECURITY CHECKPOINTS.

Just note Morgan Manning’s piece on photographers’ rights. And reader Doug Levene comments:

The confusion seems to arise from the determination by various police agencies to prevent anyone from taking pictures of their little empires.

The writer doesn’t mention this in her article, but if you fly into JFK on an international flight, there are signs everywhere prohibiting photography – and the use of cell phones since they might have cameras in them – in the customs/immigration area, including the booths where the customs officers are and at the baggage carousels. To add insult to injury, while you wait for your bags, officious officials wander around telling people to turn off and put away their cell phones. So this is the first introduction that foreign visitors get to the Land of the Free. I cannot imagine what public purpose this ban serves.

Well, it might make it harder to take photos when celebrities get special treatment.