Photographing cows or other farm scenery could land you in jail under Senate bill

February 23, 2011
By:
Bruce Ritchie

Taking photographs from the roadside of a sunrise over hay bales near the Suwannee River, horses grazing near Ocala or sunset over citrus groves along the Indian River could land you in jail under a Senate bill filed Monday.

SB 1246 by Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, would make it a first-degree felony to photograph a farm without first obtaining written permission from the owner. A farm is defined as any land "cultivated for the purpose of agricultural production, the raising and breeding of domestic animals or the storage of a commodity."

Media law experts say the ban would violate freedoms protected in the U. S. Constitution. But Wilton Simpson, a farmer who lives in Norman's district, said the bill is needed to protect the property rights of farmers and the "intellectual property" involving farm operations.

Simpson, president of Simpson Farms near Dade City, said the law would prevent people from posing as farmworkers so that they can secretly film agricultural operations.

http://fltrib.com/photographing-cows-or-other-farm-scenery-could-land-you-jail-under-senate-bill

Every shock is outdone by another worse shock the next day.

As I heard Barney Frank say today - "the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit" are trying to take over (paraphrase.)

Got it.

:)

Translation: "bill is needed to protect unlawful or questionable methods used by industrial farming regarding the health & safety of our food and the environment its produced on from photographers who may document such activity."

More details here.


Update in this post in above thread.

GOP style.

These people are nuts.

that has been the standard for what is ok and should continue to be. but just like trying to make it illegal to take pictures of police or video police as a way of fixing the problem of police brutality, they seem to think that making it so no one can record cruelty to animals on farms will fix that problem too. disgusting.

They can prosecute PETA and other animal rights organizations with this little gem.

Yeah, yeah. Be sure you protect the factory farms and the puppy mills you stupid fuck. This is a direct slap not only at the likes of me and those like me, but also the larger orgs that do undercover work, such as HSUS, ASPCA and PETA.

Not that our lovely Senator Jim Norman isn't as shady as hell to begin with *cough* Salvation Army *cough* ethics complaints...

Otherwise, shut the fuck up and stop pretending you're a rich robber baron.

Seriously I am speechless

Section 1 makes trespassing an automatic felony even if a crime isn't committed in addition to the trespassing.

Section 2 makes it a felony to take a picture or video of any farm.

Section 3 makes it pretty easy for anyone to get their "tract of land" declared a farm.

I think that previous posters are correct, it is specifically aimed at farm cruelty busters. However, considering Florida's rather loose "right to shoot" gun laws, it adds the chilling prospect of allowing people to shoot people just for stepping on their land.

"Simpson, president of Simpson Farms near Dade City, said the law would prevent people from posing as farmworkers so that they can secretly film agricultural operations."

I don't see where preventing that should be a matter of public concern.

and BP is a foreign company.

Had enough yet? I sure as hell have!