"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
Two years ago when I launched this blog, I tried to buy the domain www.photographyisnotacrime.com but it was already taken and had the words “coming soon” on its home page.
Two years later, nothing has been added to the site but the words “coming soon” are still displayed on its home page.
At first, it appeared that whomever owns this domain had lost interest in turning it into anything.
However, they renewed the domain last January and currently own it until January 2011, according to Go Daddy.
The reason I bring this up is because I am interested in purchasing the domain.
I’ve had my own weird domain name battles myself, GoDaddy has never been helpful about it, going so far as to give a domain named after my site to the cops, er, I mean people who asked for it for free.
Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration PHOTOGRAPHYISNOTACRIME.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599
Usually, when you forward a request to purchase and/or contact to the proxy holder, they will forward (by way of obligation) to the actual domain holder.
You can also make some educated guesses at an email at that website and shoot off a few: (webmaster@, admin@, sales@, photographer@, info@, etc…) in the event you never hear back.
Odds are it’s a cyber-squatter, unfortunately. Which either means paying the squatter exorbitant sums of money, or paying a lawyer the same in the hopes that you’ll get a judge to agree you have legitimate claim to the domain.
Note to Dina: You said, “photographyisnotacrime.tv
is available”.
That’s a Tuvalu domain. If I remember correct, they derive a significant chunk of their gross national product from the fact that their TLD is “.tv”. Unless things have changed, you don’t want a “.tv” domain. Those domains are expensive.
There is also the fact that Tuvalu is sinking into the ocean and will cease to exist in the future. With that in mind, ICANN will stop supporting .tv domains as they phase it out. But who knows, because Soviet Union domains, .su are still around and they’ve been gone for years.
Note to Edwin: You said, “There is also the fact that Tuvalu is sinking into the ocean and will cease to exist in the future”.
Yes. When I double-checked my facts, I saw that. However, I didn’t mention it because the “.tv” TLD will most likely continue to exist. I don’t believe they’ll shut down a TLD that’s as useful as “.tv” (i.e., useful for television sites) when people are willing to pay thousands of dollars per domain name to use it.
Carlos as a fellow photogarpher in a large metropolitian city I have documented various abuses also. As we both know, the camera is a very frieghtening tool in the eyesight of some law enforcement officers, because it’s represent indefinsable evidence of actual abuse when caught in the lens of a camera. I m glad you have this blog to address the 1st admendment rights of freedom of speach.. I caution all photographers to be careful out there and always do what’s right regarding those pictures that expose the wrong side of the law in action
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.
Support the blog
Each time you make a purchase through B&H Photo by clicking on the ad below, they send a few bucks my way that goes toward operating this blog.
Support Photography is Not a Crime by buying your electronics through this ad.
Fernandez, as I mentioned in a 
I wish you luck in that.
I’ve had my own weird domain name battles myself, GoDaddy has never been helpful about it, going so far as to give a domain named after my site to the cops, er, I mean people who asked for it for free.
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: PHOTOGRAPHYISNOTACRIME.COM
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ANGRYHOSTING.COM
NS2.ANGRYHOSTING.COM
For complete domain details go to:
http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?Domain=PHOTOGRAPHYISNOTACRIME.COM
Someone probably has it on auto-renew and registered it privately through GoDaddy’s masking service.
Send the guy an email, PHOTOGRAPHYISNOTACRIME.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
domainsbyproxy is the name of godaddys registar.
I don’t have an answer for you, but a question.
Have you seen this story yet?
http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/disabled_politico/archive/2009/05/01/massachusetts-bill-would-rule-people-over-60-and-some-people-with-disabilities-incapable-of-consenting-to-erotic-photography.aspx
photographyisnotacri.me is available according to WHOIS
so was .usa when i looked, as well as a couple of others. I can understand why Carlos wants the .com name however.
soon there may be a .photo or .photography. so he might want to hold out for that.
FYI: photographyisnotacrime.tv
is available.
I like the idea of putting a name that is a political statement as a .us domain name.
I already own photographyisnotacrime.org but I like the dot com because that is what everybody automatically thinks of when thinking of a website.
Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration PHOTOGRAPHYISNOTACRIME.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599
Just call and fscking hound them.
They’ll respond when you offer the right amount of money.
Usually, when you forward a request to purchase and/or contact to the proxy holder, they will forward (by way of obligation) to the actual domain holder.
You can also make some educated guesses at an email at that website and shoot off a few: (webmaster@, admin@, sales@, photographer@, info@, etc…) in the event you never hear back.
Odds are it’s a cyber-squatter, unfortunately. Which either means paying the squatter exorbitant sums of money, or paying a lawyer the same in the hopes that you’ll get a judge to agree you have legitimate claim to the domain.
I’d get the .us domain right away.
I can never remember Photography is Not a Crime for a blog name when I am telling anyone about this site, but I always remember CarlosMiller.com.
Note to Dina: You said, “photographyisnotacrime.tv
is available”.
That’s a Tuvalu domain. If I remember correct, they derive a significant chunk of their gross national product from the fact that their TLD is “.tv”. Unless things have changed, you don’t want a “.tv” domain. Those domains are expensive.
There is also the fact that Tuvalu is sinking into the ocean and will cease to exist in the future. With that in mind, ICANN will stop supporting .tv domains as they phase it out. But who knows, because Soviet Union domains, .su are still around and they’ve been gone for years.
Note to Edwin: You said, “There is also the fact that Tuvalu is sinking into the ocean and will cease to exist in the future”.
Yes. When I double-checked my facts, I saw that. However, I didn’t mention it because the “.tv” TLD will most likely continue to exist. I don’t believe they’ll shut down a TLD that’s as useful as “.tv” (i.e., useful for television sites) when people are willing to pay thousands of dollars per domain name to use it.
Carlos as a fellow photogarpher in a large metropolitian city I have documented various abuses also. As we both know, the camera is a very frieghtening tool in the eyesight of some law enforcement officers, because it’s represent indefinsable evidence of actual abuse when caught in the lens of a camera. I m glad you have this blog to address the 1st admendment rights of freedom of speach.. I caution all photographers to be careful out there and always do what’s right regarding those pictures that expose the wrong side of the law in action