"Carlos Miller and his blog Photography Is Not A Crime has to be the best blog I have come across to date that documents the ongoing battle that photographers and videographers are facing in increasing numbers."Hodson Report
"Anyone who promises to 'mock, madden and maybe even muckrake' has my attention - especially when he's fighting for my right to plant my sticks wherever the Constitution says I can."Lenslinger
"With a seemingly increasing number of stories of police harassing and arresting photographers making headlines, one man has made it his job to watch the police."B-roll
"This is not a partisan issue. It's a police abuse-of-power issue, and 'security' is no excuse for this sort of totally unacceptable and unconstitutional behavior by officers of the law. Carlos Miller is a great source of information about these unfolding stories."Brendan Loy
I have a bunch of RSS feeds on my smartphone, and I tell ya, this is one i read constantly. Great info, and it is unbelievable what is going on right here in the USA.... Virginia Beach Photo Club
“Photography is not a Crime” is informative, well written and takes no prisoners. The Photojournalist
"If you read enough of his site, you start to understand that Miller has a bit of an ability to instigate. I don't blame him for this. I think that in order for society to progress, authority must continually be challenged. [Post] Modern College Life
The Bad
"This Carlos Miller character is just a jerk, no redeeming social or personal value."Conservative Cave
"You're a good writer, Carlos, but until you're able to recognize and acknowledge your biases, your quests for justice will be seen by most as little more than sour grapes by a man with a chip on his shoulder."South Florida Daily Blog
The Ugly
"You are a cockroach and boil on the ass of journalism in Miami and the sooner that responsible journalists in Miami disown you and repudiate your actions the better.""Hank"
"Your arrogant, crass, thug-like behavior crops up at every turn. One only need to read your blog to see that.
You can’t seem to cover anything without getting into a potentially violent confrontation.""Hank"
Recognition
The South Florida Daily Blog Post of the Month February 2008The South Florida Daily Blog Post of the Month June 2008The South Florida Daily Blog Post of the Month November 2008Some Cranky Guy
Uber Amazing BlogNovember 23rd, 2008
By Carlos Miller
Hundreds of photographers in London kissed their freedoms good-bye with a mass demonstration Monday, protesting a new law that could land them in prison for ten years for photographing police officers.
Although the new law went into effect that same day, no arrests were reported despite the fact that they were standing in front of Scotland Yard, headquarters for the Metropolitan Police Service.
But it is no telling when police will decide to enforce this law.
London police officer is surrounded by protesting photographers (Photo by The Associated Press)
The law is intended to combat terrorism but many believe it will be used to persecute photojournalists and harass amateur photographers, according to the BBC and The Associated Press, who have finally gotten around to reporting on this issue.
@ Cigar: we don’t have a single codified document like the States but there are written protections like the Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus Act, Bill of Right.. etc.. etc.. (as an aside, we *used* to be able to bare arms in defence.. I didn’t know that)
On topic… what’s more worrying is the legislation that’s being passed that will allow the authorities the abilities to stop people in the street for *no* reason (I can’t find the links right now), although there are *supposed* to be limitations on the reasons to search you can bet the police will find some in addition to using S44 as a catch all (when it’s not supposed to be used like that). God help you if you get stopped, searched and a camera revealed…
Last year, police in the UK were given the right to set their own restrictions regarding photography, thus allowing them to interpret the law, not just enforce the law.
Awesome, so even though the UK is littered with CCTV cameras watching citizens’ every move, the citizens themselves aren’t allowed to photograph police? The state exists for the citizens, not the other way around.
Those little biz cards some people have, the ones that are about the quarter-size of normal cards, are the first to get lost - not noticed. 4 hours ago
My name is Carlos Miller and I am a multimedia journalist who was arrested by Miami police after taking photos of them against their wishes, a clear violation of my First Amendment rights.
Since that arrest on Feb. 20th, 2007, I've fought a lengthy battle against the State of Florida to prove my innocence. After going to trial in June 2008, I was acquitted of all charges except resisting arrest without violence. I appealed that conviction pro se, meaning I represented myself, and I won a reversal.
However, I am now fighting another arrest for photographing cops against their wishes. On Memorial Day Weekend 2008, I was arrested on Miami Beach on a single charge of resisting arrest without violence after I photographed a couple of cops against their wishes.
Click here to read more.
Their side of story
Police “escorted defendant to the middle of the street and told him to cross to the sidewalk. Defendant for the fourth time refused the verbal commands and that’s why he was arrested.” Read arrest report.
A legal view
The general rule in the United States is that anyone may take photographs of whatever they want when they are in a public place or places where they have permission to take photographs. Absent a specific legal prohibition such as a statute or ordinance, you are legally entitled to take photographs. Examples of places that are traditionally considered public are streets, sidewalks, and public parks.(more).
SPJ’s protest letter
National leaders of the largest journalism organization in the United States have expressed their disappointment in Miami-Dade County Court Judge Jose L. Fernandez for violating my First Amendment rights.
Fernandez, as I mentioned in a previous post, gave me an extremely harsh sentence and criticized me for having blogged about my case.
Read the press release from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Sarcasm Disclaimer
I am a very sarcastic person in person. And I am probably even more sarcastic in my writing.
But if you’ve never met me, you might not see that sarcasm. After all, sarcasm depends on tone and delivery for pure effectiveness, something that is hard to do with the written word.
So if you are ever offended by something I write, whether you are a conservative, liberal, Catholic, Jew, atheist, American, foreigner, black, white, southerner, yankee, homosexual, straight or whatever, chances are, I am just being sarcastic.
Truth is, I am not a hater. I don’t even hate cops. I just want them to abide by the law.
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Fernandez, as I mentioned in a 
what most folks don’t get over here is that they have no First Amendment in the UK or in most European countries.
oh I get it all right. The reason I blog about the UK is that their government has a lot of influence on our government and vice versa.
@ Cigar: we don’t have a single codified document like the States but there are written protections like the Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus Act, Bill of Right.. etc.. etc.. (as an aside, we *used* to be able to bare arms in defence.. I didn’t know that)
On topic… what’s more worrying is the legislation that’s being passed that will allow the authorities the abilities to stop people in the street for *no* reason (I can’t find the links right now), although there are *supposed* to be limitations on the reasons to search you can bet the police will find some in addition to using S44 as a catch all (when it’s not supposed to be used like that). God help you if you get stopped, searched and a camera revealed…
Here we go, BBC article from Jan 09;
It looks like it’s limited to ‘marked’ areas but there probably won’t be any check/balances in place about where and how those are set up.
There’s also a call to “get rid of red tape” which then also removes accountability regarding abusing the system.
by “marked areas” I guess they’ll post signs as a warning? maybe it’s time to get out those Leicas and start shooting from the hip again.
Last year, police in the UK were given the right to set their own restrictions regarding photography, thus allowing them to interpret the law, not just enforce the law.
http://carlosmiller.com/2008/07/06/uk-police-allowed-to-set-their-own-restrictions-on-public-photography/
Now with this law, which puts photographers on the same level as terrorists, we can only imagine how police are going to enforce this law.
Or even how the judges will approach these cases.
This is a huge, huge setback not just for photographers but for civil libertarians in general.
It basically means that if you take a picture of a cop, and they don’t like your attitude about it, you can wind up in prison for ten years.
The former director of the M15, which is UK’s version of the CIA, believes the UK is turning into a police state.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4643415/Spy-chief-We-risk-a-police-state.html
UK Law is based on common law, rather than a written constitution.
Awesome, so even though the UK is littered with CCTV cameras watching citizens’ every move, the citizens themselves aren’t allowed to photograph police? The state exists for the citizens, not the other way around.
See this film for info on the problems faced by photographers and filmmakers, ‘Policing the Public Gaze’, http://www.worldbytes.org/programmes/013/013_004.html