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Comment by brianwawok | Hacker News Reader

Except that if the police decide to take you down to the station, inspect your memory card, and shake you down a bit.. then even if they let you go.. you lost an entire day for what gain? Do you think protesting against the security guard and him seeing you dragged off by cops is going to change the policy or his attitude in the future?

The only way to "change" anything would be to follow up with a lawsuit if they harass you and get the port authority docked some money. Anything short of that and "you lose". Not sure it is worth everyone's time to follow through with a lawsuit.

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> you lost an entire day for what gain?

Well, for one, you might get $30,000 out of it.

For two, this is America, and you'll gain the satisfaction of standing up for your rights. That particular employee's mentality is one of the worst outcomes of the disaster that was and continues to be the 9/11 attack - the constant paranoia that's more suited to East Germany or the former Soviet Union.

For three, if enough people object and stand up for their rights, these pointless, bullshit harassment tactics might actually stop.

I like my rights.

I can't spend a full day in jail each time I want to protest against a right abuse. I have to pick and choose my battles.

Tragedy of the commons says that even if you are right - if we ALL stood up against this it would stop.. for me specifically, it is more convenient to not. So most other people will not. And in fact I am not a photographer, so standing up for photography rights is pretty far down on my priority list.

In all likelihood, if the cops even bothered to show up after someone called this in, they'd probably laugh it off. I get that people have skepticism about police, but after living in NYC over a decade I've come to notice that NYC police usually don't care one bit about stupid stuff. Even in the "see something, say something" age, they usually have plenty of common sense.

This is what happens when clown security calls cops in Alaska (Port Of Anchorage):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDYMewJN8WE

That was great. I wish that was the standard response.

For the tldr folks, I skipped past the security guards' posturing, because I assume that it's what we expect from this video.

https://youtu.be/zDYMewJN8WE?t=1225 <-- This is when the police begin talking to the cameraman, and tell him he's doing nothing illegal or wrong.

The police definitely seem like they reacted very well in this instance.

If the person doesn't get charged in the end, eventually the police will stop showing up when the Port Authority calls because someone takes a picture.

> you lost an entire day for what gain?

With this attitude, you are literally part of the cause of the problem.

If you're not willing to stand up for your rights, you have no basis for complaint when they are removed.

Ok well how about you go out there and pick a fight with that security guard instead of typing about it on the Internet. It's real easy to say stuff like this when you weren't the one in the situation and it's not your life that's on the line.

> not your life that's on the line.

That's a bit hyperbolic. I'd wager that if most HN readers were in the same situation, they would not be in serious danger.

The only rational behavior when dealing with law enforcement of any sort is the same way you'd treat any other dangerous, and possibly violent wild animal - move slowly, don't be the least bit threatening.

Any random cop does have the ability to ruin your day, or worse, and there's jack and squat you can do about it until after the fact, if then. That's not even hyperbole - it's rational, objective fact.

Perhaps then you haven't been paying attention to the news. I'm not some alarmist that thinks every cop is looking to kill people but given the number of high profile fatal interactions lately I think everyone is more on edge and I wouldn't blame anyone for attempting to de-escalate a situation instead of taking some militaristic "high road" to prove a point.

To be sure, I realize the initial interaction was with what presumably is a security guard and not an actual LEO. However if the OP had taken a belligerent attitude it's not unreasonable to assume that law enforcement would have become involved quickly.

As I posted elsewhere:

I like my rights.

I can't spend a full day in jail each time I want to protest against a right abuse. I have to pick and choose my battles.

In fact I am not a photographer, so standing up for photography rights is pretty far down on my priority list.

If this is an important cause to you, I suggest you go near a nuclear plant or military base and start taking pictures. When the police come, argue loudly.

memory card = 4x5 sheet of film. Good luck inspecting that.

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