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Secret Buildings You May Not Photograph, Part 643

blog.washingtonpost.com — If you happen by 3701 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington and decide you have a sudden craving for a photograph of a generic suburban office building, and you point your camera at said structure, you will rather quickly be greeted by uniformed security folks who will demand that you delete the image and require that you give up various personal info.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 20, 2007

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  • chromie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+135Just wait for Google to drive through. You wont even have to get off your ass to be a terrorist.
  • sniper6121, on 10/11/2007, -0/+65http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3701+N.+Fairfax+Drive+Arlington&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=26.299013,58.710937&ie=UTF8&ll=38.883099,-77.103797&spn=0.001572,0.003583&t=k&z=19&om=1
  • damnitdaniel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+57Damnit! I was half expecting there to be a pic...
  • themarq, on 10/11/2007, -1/+47Sounds like a good time to organize a flash mob.

    A couple hundred people showing up with digital cameras, phone cameras, etc.... and start snapping. At the very least it would get more people talking about it.
  • theNazz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+37The Feds should have 'no expectation of privacy' when they park their 'secret' building at a goddamn public intersection...
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -27/+53Because we live in a police state. Get used to it.
  • stroupnp, on 10/11/2007, -5/+31I thin now I am just going to start taking pictures of every building that I see just to exercise my right as an American. If they try to make me erase the picture I will refuse, be arrested and then sue them for destroying my property if they take my camera and erase the picture.

    Bring this ***** to the forefront.

    All these pussies that are willing to go along with ***** like this infuriate me. Grow some balls!!
  • harksaw, on 10/11/2007, -3/+27One of my friends said they do this a lot in China. The police will come up to you and tell you you can't take pictures of certain buildings.

    Yes, that's Communist China.
  • jersey, on 10/11/2007, -1/+19And to those security guards, I say, ***** you. You will not deny me my right.
    I always carry the file linked below with me. I has shut a quite a few security guards.

    http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm
  • LandStander, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17Why did you have to go and do that for? Now they'll be coming for you! They'll put a black bag over your head and take you away! I'll miss you. Stay strong!
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -6/+21You have no idea what a real police state is.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+17This is the way you fight a bad law. Grow a backbone Nancy.
  • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15Now we just need Streetview for that area...
  • Dpack1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13the same way you pre-heat something
  • chicoer2001, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13Since when is taking a photo from a public street illegal. He should be a good American and sue.
  • cmiz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12I think the biggest irony of the whole situation is that if he wasn't stopped and was just allowed to go on his way... none of us would have any idea that there was even a building at that particular address, let alone that it housed very sensitive defense projects. What's the point of stuffing a top secret project into an ordinary office building if you're going to have armed guards running out and hassling people in the name of the defense department? Our government really needs a lesson in obfuscation.
  • Subiklim, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Uh, this is not anything new. Pre 9/11 (actually, pre bush) I was taking some photos in Battery Park City where I was greeted by a federal guard, and he informed me that I had to give him my roll of film, as well as any others I was carrying (I lost at least 100 shots).
  • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12Those damned French photographers and their rouge! /fumes
  • MWeather, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Taking pictures doesn't make a building insecure. You can take all the pictures you want at Ft Knox or the Federal Reserve.
  • reparsed, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10I like the flash mob idea. Can you imagine a hand full of security types trying to wrangle a group of several hundred photographers?

    Mob forms in a matter of minutes, stays just long enough to take 1 or 2 pictures and then disperses in 4 different directions.
  • stroupnp, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11Last time I checked, just because someone arbitrarily says that I'm not allowed to do something doesn't mean that it is against the law.
  • BlueRider, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10I think the only reasonable response to something like this is for hundreds or even thousands of people to go there and take pictures. If there are hundreds of regular, law-abiding US citizens taking pictures of this stupid building, imagine the twittering response of the government to this. Taking a picture of a building that is in plain sight on a public street by US citizens is now a crime? Grab your cameras and get over there! If I didn't live 500 miles away, I'd do this is a heartbeat.
  • s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12I'm pretty sure you don't need a license to operate a camera.
  • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12Not to mention it houses DARPA - you know, those guys who are focusing on defense tech. If they can't keep their own building secure, that kinda looks bad on them.

    Oh, and the DARPA chief better watch out for that nasty FOXDIE...
  • mikelieman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9What, like being tossed into solitary for 1300 days? No Arraignment, No Lawyer.

  • HillerMylife, on 07/24/2008, -11/+20We have many problems with our current government, but to call our nation a police state is to both trivialize the horrors inflicted upon the people of truly malicious countries and to make our own situation seem so hopeless as to be irreparable. Do not be an alarmist -- be a realist, and take realistic action.
  • hifiDesign, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8http://www.freedomtophotograph.com/
  • Subiklim, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10You may want to actually read the 'file' you carry around with you.
    "A significant one is that commanders of military installations can prohibit photographs of specific areas when they deem it necessary to protect national security."
  • pevensen, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9There should have been a sign saying "no photography."
  • TheInfamousOne, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8dugg you down for throwing up the exact same link as above, with you zoomed in one step closer. Most digger users realize what the + sign on google maps does jackass.
  • SickMonkey, on 10/11/2007, -5/+12At least you can find this building on Google Maps, Cheney's residence at One Observatory Circle has been censored from Google Maps. It's because Cheney is a critical element to our national security. Oh, it and might have something to do with the fact that he is a paranoid SOB too!
  • dcrooks, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8I was in Fort Washington, MD, taking pictures of some horses in a field when some guy came up to and told me not to take any more pictures. That was like 20 years ago.
  • akatherder, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Dugg up for the author using "strategery".
  • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Proof?
  • CalipsoII, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6lol @ e-thug
  • electrichead, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7... yet
  • TheSabre, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Really SouthsideIrish? I work for the government and people protest right in front of my office every day. People IN my office talk bad about other parts of the government. But no one was ever arrested.

    I think you're full of *****.
  • KryptoniteKid, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7As a former occupant of said building, I'm tempted to provide some insightful commentary...but I'd have to kill each and every one of you afterwards.
  • Haphazardness, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Well, now we know where it is and a vague idea of what goes on there. And by vague, I mean top secret stuff.
  • TheSabre, on 10/11/2007, -6/+11Well damn, then the cashier at the grocery store arrested me when she asked me to write down my telephone number on a check that I used to pay for groceries. That bastard.
  • mahdaeng, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5And us to for looking at the pic.
  • InetRoadkill, on 10/11/2007, -5/+10So your suggesting that we should just look the other way until we descend into a full-blown police state?
  • renegade1029, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5And you have something better to propose?
  • vandy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5well if they DID find out you were recording with a hidden camera, don't you think they'd find that even more suspicious?
  • hornfinger, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Its so that you can't see the unholy sacrifices that go on.
  • jeffiek, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4"is it a crime in the US to carry a concealed camera"

    DON'T give them any ideas!!!
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5by the way it show up fine on google eath, send the cops over to google and confiscate their satellites
  • aserer511, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4better off letting you photograph, now you know its secret....
  • s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6You are a defender of freedom.
  • ClarkWells, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Wow... I had no idea that Windows Live was that good... It is better in alot of ways than Google Maps/earth is. those perspective images are bad ass.
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