Photo Rights in Tacoma?

In spite of what our RSS readers want us to do, we haven’t been following the Port of Tacoma protests to any significant degree.  Why?  Because, at least to me, it’s a larger debate than simply Tacoma – our typical purview. 

However… there’s a youtube video from the protests that is a bit more local in scope and is beginning to make the rounds on the internet.  It shows the interaction between an independent videographer and the Tacoma Police Department.  Seeing this videographer be asked to leave an apparently public place, then ‘arrested’ when he asked why, gives me pause.  Of course we can’t pan out and see the bigger scene or verify the information.  Several of us (in the dark boardrooms of Exit133’s corporate headquarters) have debated whether the on screen narrative matches what we’re seeing.  But, in the end, absolutely real or not, the video does make us think.

For some time now I’ve followed stories of bloggers, independent journalists, and regular folks having various issues trying to photograph or video the things that interest them.  I always have a camera with me.  I’ve read my photo rights.  At least in this country, I’ve never been asked to not take a photograph. 

Link to PhotoPermit.org

Update: An internal investigation has begun according to The News Tribune.