According to this NYT article the latest idea to come out of the Big Apple is to require a city permit and $1M insurance for people who want to take pictures or movies in the city!

The proposed rules would apply to:

• 2 or more people in a location for longer than 30 minutes
• 5 or more people using a tripod for longer than 10 minutes

City officials are claiming that it would not apply to tourists or families on vacation. But in typically totalitarian fashion the rules don’t actually say that they are exempt, leaving it open for interpretation and abuse.

Mr. Dunn [of the New York Civil Liberties Union ed.] suggested that the city deliberately kept the language vague, and that as a result police would have broad discretion in enforcing the rules. In a letter sent to the film office this week, Mr. Dunn said the proposed rules would potentially apply to tourists in places like Times Square, Rockefeller Center or ground zero, “where people routinely congregate for more than half an hour and photograph or film.”

I am reminded of this quote from Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.