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I just went out for one of my occasional walks around the campus with my camera, but it was fairly abruptly halted by two security officers.
You can probably see where this is going.
Apparently I need a media pass to take photos or they could fine me if it was reported. They said they wouldn’t report it (thankfully), but I couldn’t take any more photos, since they could give a good idea of the layout to a terrorist. I’m not annoyed with the security folks - they were reasonable and just doing their jobs. But… hooray for institutional bureaucracy!
To misquote the good doctor: If you ever came up with the idea of a media pass, go and donate some money to charity because you are karmically unbalanced.
The university publishes maps of the campus on their website. Need I say more?
Update: Very confusing. I just received an e-mail which stated:
You don’t need a media pass to take photographs on campus, if you’re in a public area and they’re not being taken for commercial gain.
Apparently security think otherwise. I will be printing off a copy of this e-mail and carrying it with me when I go to take photos. I’ll let you know if anything happens.
Update 2: Much better suggestion from Dad - go to the security office and ask rather than waiting for another encounter. I’ll try and get this done tomorrow and let you know the result.
Update 3: Apparently the guards were wrong. The security office wrote down a name on the printed-out e-mail and said that if I was stopped again I was told to say I had seen that person, and it would all be fine. Odd system.
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January 26th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
You’re kidding! Your own university won’t let you take photographs? That’s hilarious. I’m also pretty sure you can’t legally be fined for taking photographs like that. You’re a law student, right? Confuse them with long words.
Dx
January 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Are you serious?! That’s completely ridiculous!
January 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Are you serious?! That’s completely ridiculous!
January 29th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
This is what the security guards said. See my update above for the line from the publicity lot. Nice to know the university maintains a general coherence with these things…
January 30th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Probably a good plan to go to the security office instead! Sorry for the double post above by the way.