Open Source Homeland

This thread comes up once ever three months, somewhere. It’s an outrage searching for a reason. As a practical matter, there is very little interference between government officials and casual photographers.

Whatever strum und drang there is can almost always be solved with calm, honest communication instead of getting yer backs up.

Photoblog – Is photography a crime?.

Robert Hood says: Carlos Miller tirelessly advocates for photographer rights on his blog; Photography is Not a Crime. He is particularly interested in the times when photographers intersect with what he claims are heavy-handed police tactics. I’m a reader of his blog because the topic comes up often in the photojournalism industry.

Someday we won’t consider any part of this a failure.

Social media play key role in Boulder fire – Lost Remote.

When the Boulder Sheriff’s emergency alert system failed, its emergency operations center asked that residents use Twitter and Facebook to help spread the word of mandatory evacuations, reports the Boulder Channel 1 Blog. The hashtag #boulderfire has become a lifeline of sorts for many looking for the latest information on the fire, as well as people and businesses offering to help evacuees.

Friendfeed for watchlists!

New DHS program to automate transmission of watch list data — Government Computer News.

DHS and the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), which maintains the consolidated database, are putting in place a program called DHS Watchlist Service (WLS). WLS will replace multiple data feeds from TSC to Homeland Security agencies that handle various missions such as counterterrorism, law enforcement and border security, the department’s privacy office said in an assessment of the program.