Photography Rights

Overheal

I normally only get a few things from my mother in emails. Mostly it's pictures of puppies in cute clothing, or pleas to let her know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth but today strangely enough she sent me the body of this bill. I suppose it fits though, if you love animals and all.

FL Senate wrote:

Florida Senate - 2011 SB 1246



By Senator Norman




12-01071A-11 20111246__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to farms; prohibiting a person from
3 entering onto a farm or photographing or video
4 recording a farm without the owner’s written consent;
5 providing a definition; providing penalties; providing
6 an effective date.
7
8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
9
10 Section 1. (1) A person who enters onto a farm or other
11 property where legitimate agriculture operations are being
12 conducted without the written consent of the owner, or an
13 authorized representative of the owner, commits a felony of the
14 first degree, punishable as provided in s.775.082, s.775.083,
15 or s.775.084, Florida Statutes.
16 (2) A person who photographs, videorecords, or otherwise
17 produces images or pictorial records, digital or otherwise, at
18 or of a farm or other property where legitimate agriculture
19 operations are being conducted without the written consent of
20 the owner, or an authorized representative of the owner, commits
21 a felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s.
22 775.082, s.775.083, or s.775.084, Florida Statutes.
23 (3) As used in this section, the term “farm” includes any
24 tract of land cultivated for the purpose of agricultural
25 production, the raising and breeding of domestic animals, or the
26 storage of a commodity.
27 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.

This just reminds me of Anderson Cooper vs. BP Oil, or Rodney King, or Libya. In general, people don't want you seeing something, and displaying evidence of it, when you're doing something you shouldn't be. Animal abuse, poor working conditions, migrant workforces, etc.

The difference though this is a law about private property (ish.) but why specify agriculture? Why not make a law preventing photography in all private properties without owner's consent? Smells fishy, wanted to get some feedback on it.

BluePlanet

Well, it seems pretty dastardly.

"A person who photographs, videorecords, or otherwise
produces images or pictorial records, digital or otherwise"

I guess en Plein Air is pretty much out then, at least if there's agricultural land in the scene.

Am i surprised? A little, "land of the free" n all that.