6 December 2008

The top secret night club finger print machine?

5 December 2008 | johnboy

On the ongoing saga of night club finger printing, PM has posted an account of his efforts to document the process:

“A few weeks ago I tried to take some photos of the machine and I was asked by a bouncer to stop because it was private property 🙂

So, appreciating the opportunity to further highlight the irony of the situation, I tried to take a couple of photos of them. It was probably a bad idea, but until that time my friend and I were just being lighthearted.

They chased me and my friend across the road where we stopped at a police van – no police around, but things calmed down. We figured the police would be nearby, and no bouncer’s going to attack a couple of blokes right next to a police van.

I was told that if I ever came back they’d bash my f**king head in, or words to that effect.

I know many bouncers – most are great. But the main bouncer that night was a right cockhead who shouldn’t hold a security license.”

UPDATED: A slideshow of PM’s death defying investigative photography is below:

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p11:20 pm 08 Dec 08

I wasn’t there for long at all.

I was suggesting that maybe someone other then you had been irritating them, and your timing resulted in you copping their wrath. I am not suggesting that that is appropriate behaviour for bouncers in the slightest.

It the machines are on the footpath, then I fail to see the issue at all. Go in with a camera crew, lighting, boom mic operator, etc, and see how they react…

poptop12:28 pm 08 Dec 08

It seems to me that the Club in Question has set up some equipment on public pavement and appear to be impeding pedestrian traffic.

If anyone wants to use Big Brother Equipment, surely it should be within the confines of their leased space?

PM11:48 am 08 Dec 08

I wasn’t there for long at all.

After reading about the machines on The Riot Act I was interested in them, so took photos. It that’s stirring the pot, then I’m guilty as charged.

p111:37 am 08 Dec 08

…but looks like the person taking the photos was stirring the pot, and when some people are stirred they get violent.

While this is very true, the people in question are supposed to be trained security professionals, who I would expect to meet a higher standard. That said, you don’t know what fu%&tard had been baiting them for the last three hours…

farnarkler5:13 am 08 Dec 08

Next time perhaps hire your own security. Why all the hype over a machine in an awful nightclub?

luke793:49 pm 06 Dec 08

Im not really a fan of violence but looks like the person taking the photos was stirring the pot, and when some people are stirred they get violent. If they did bash that person then i wouldnt have much sympathy. in my eyes that sorta thing is pretty much the same as picking a fight with someone.
That fella standing infront of the police van looks like that where’s wally fella.

dexi10:09 am 06 Dec 08

Like most people I would expect not to be physical assaulted regardless of the occupation of the assaulter. There is no legitimate reason to threaten violence other than repulsing violent attack. Bully boys.

ant10:01 am 06 Dec 08

Well, the bouncers can come on here and type replies with their sausage-like fingers.

I reckon those fingerprint machines will be responsible for the next pandemic. Everyone who touches them one night will catch one person’s plague, and it will race through Canberra like wildfire, and we’ll all be quarantined with carts to pile the dead on.

phototext9:33 am 06 Dec 08

Worth having a gander at if you are waving a camera about.

http://www.artslaw.com.au/legalinformation/StreetPhotographersRights.asp

http://www.4020.net/words/photorights.php

Both Australian based.

phototext8:57 am 06 Dec 08

If you are taking photographs on private property they can ask you to stop, obviously, and the trouble is that the ACT government probably charges them rent on the footpath area outside the club. The line between private and public property may not be so clear cut.

If you are on public land then you are well within your rights to photograph the club etc etc…. as far as I know. But taking photographs of people, even in a public place can be fraught with danger. A lot of people believe they have a right to privacy in public places, the right not to be photographed. They don’t, but I personally believe that people have a right to expect you to stop if they ask, it is just being polite.

Upskirt etc etc is different kettle of fish, that will land you in court and rightly so.

Some bouncers really shouldn’t be bouncers but arguing a point with them is just looking for trouble. You don’t go around poking wasps nests and then wonder why you got stung.

The thing to remember is that the bouncers are at work and like most people we do expect a level of privacy at work, it is a lot different to walking through Civic and having someone take some snaps of you.

I think the bouncers over reacted but you did push it.

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