Seventeen years ago 19 men who were here in the US illigally perpetrated a terrorist attack bringing down the World Trade Center in New York City and taking out a large section of the Pentagon killing around 3000 innocent citizens. It gave our own government an excuse to erode our 1st 4th and 5th amendment rights. In other words the terrorists succeeded in their attack. They succeeded in taking our freedoms that millions of citizens have given their lives to defend throughout history. They have succeeded in eroding trust among people to the extent that anyone seen taking video or photos around government buildings or other properties is now automatically suspect. The one thing said during all these encounters has been “in this day and age” or something similar. Always referring to 9/11 and insinuating that somehow such behavior indicates the photographer/videographer is a possible terrorist.

Why must we constantly relive 9/11? Can we not move on and show the real terrorists that we are not going to cower under a rock and flinch every time we see a citizen with a camera? If terrorists wanted to surveil a possible target all they would need to do is look at Google Earth or Google Maps/Street View. They would not stand out front in broad daylight with a camera.