Muni Don’t Take My Kodachrome

Since September 11, photographers have been stopped, harassed, and intimidated into handing over their personal property simply because they were photographing subjects that made other people uncomfortable, such as ship locks, trains, buildings, bridges, and bus stations. If you live in the United States, here’s a guide to print and carry with you: The Legal Handbook for Photographers. British photographers should carry The UK Photographer’s Rights Guide, since photography is slowly becoming illegal in the United Kingdom.

With that in mind (and with advice from my lawyer), I’ve designed these entirely fictitious Photographer’s Licenses.

This license is intended as art and political commentary in that one does not need a license to take photographs. This license is not an official government-issued document, nor is it intended as an imitation of an official government document, and it should not be used as such. The author expressly disclaims all liability for any use to which this artwork is put. This license is a work of fiction and is not to be used as official identification or authorization. Know your rights, and please support the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

I dig this! I dig it very much and I’m playing with the associated files to make my own. I’m using Illustrator CS3 (and am a relative newbie using it) and cannot figure out how to get my photo pasted in there, have the ghost DHS logo over it, and match the lower lefthand curve of the card. Thoughts? Tips?

I’m a lawyer.  Presenting a fake ID to a cop is punishable by up to 20 years in prison in some circumstances:
  http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1028.html

Cops are definitely harassing photographers (and others) under nonexistent or overzealously enforced laws, but that doesn’t give citizens a legal right to produce, carry, or present false IDs.  Do not do this.

And I’m the PM of Canada…call it an exercise in graphic design. Still curious as to how to get Illustrator to do what I want.

Suit yourself, dude.  I’m just making sure you’re aware that even creating the file in Photoshop is probably a felony, and printing one out is clearly a felony even if you don’t do anything with it.  And “it was an exercise in graphic design” won’t be a saving excuse.  Good luck.

And that’s fine. I appreciate your concern. Altho, let me ask…in the eyes of the law where does the line cross from copying or closely imitating to remixing something or parodying it?  I mean, have you read the fine print on his card? It clearly states that it’s all trying to take the piss out of seriousness.

Let me elaborate on my first post…Let’s say I want to create a neat card in Illustrator to use as a membership card for a car club. You know, something a little cooler (though with no connections to any government agencies) than what most clubs have.

I’m seriously just trying to learn the tools in Illustrator. Can’t help that this is one of the best id card images I’ve found out there.

I did read the fine print, and I get the joke, ha-ha-that’s-clever, but DHS is not known for its sense of humor.

The line between a copy and a parody can be blurry.  Courts have to deal with this all the time.

In general, fake ID laws are intended to prevent fraud.  If A makes this card intending it as parody, and then B actually goes out and tries to pass it off to a cop as real, B would be committing fraud by trying to get something under false pretenses.  (It’s possible that A could be charged as well; he would have to prove that he intended it only as parody.)

Creating a card for a car club or something is no problem, as long as you’re authorized by the car club, or you’re a board member or something.  If you try to make an official-looking government ID, you’re likely to run into trouble.  And if you make a fake AAA card, for example, and then try to use it, that would be fraud.

Well, naturally! Maybe I’m just the sane one in the room, but I’d never try to pass of a fake ID card. Heck, I never even had one when I was a kid. :D

Again, I really would like to learn Illustrator better…I think he’s got some good art here and I totally agree that people freak out too much if someone’s taking snaps of a bus stop or whatever. 

But now you have me curious, what if the very top read US Department of Hoaxland Insecurity?  I mean, is that far enough away from reality that you could have a giggle with friends at a party assuming you’d never actually flash it at a cop or cop-like person?

As with many areas of law, there’s no bright-line rule, as far as I know.  The definitions in the statute I linked above all say things like the document “appears to be issued by or under the authority of the United States Government,” “appears to be genuine,” etc. 

So it probably boils down to whether it looks realistic enough to fool a cop, even temporarily.

Yeah, that’s kinda what I figured. I never knew for sure, but was always curious. I just saw that ripremix documentary and it intrigued me as to where those lines fall, you know?

“I’m just making sure you’re aware that even creating the file in Photoshop is probably a felony”

That’s a just bloody laughable assertion.

Laughable?  No, it’s an educated guess as to the meaning of a somewhat vaguely worded statute.

As you would know if you’d taken a moment to follow the link I posted above, the law says that “Whoever… knowingly and without lawful authority produces an identification document” is guilty of a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison, i.e., a felony.

The only question here is what “produces” means in that context.  There’s no definition given in the statute, so the standard principles of statutory interpretation apply, and we go by the plain meaning of the word. 

To “produce” an identification document, in the plain meaning of the word, can mean either of two things:  To create it, or to show it to a cop when asked.  The statute also says you have to do it “knowingly and without lawful authority,” which suggests that the former definition is the one that applies. 

Ergo, when our blogger knowingly and without lawful authority created this identification document in Photoshop, he was committing a crime under 18 U.S.C. Section 1028(a)(1).

Please do not make assertions about the law unless you know exactly what you are talking about.

@mmol;

Not a terribly educated guess, if you can’t follow the link you posted AND take a moment to use the Find command.

“(9) the term “produce” includes alter, authenticate, or assemble; “

Looks like the definition is given in the statute. As it usually is in most statutes I’ve seen.

And it looks like it would actually have to be printed out in a presentable form (authenticate or assemble, you can’t alter a fictional ID) and not just a picture.

You might want to try that not making assertions until you follow your own advice, mmol.

Fair enough; I didn’t see the definitions section.  However, I think “assemble” could be construed to include creating it on the computer.  I could certainly make a decent argument to that effect if I were the prosecuting attorney, which is what the interpretation would boil down to anyway.

Pretty tenuous at best. It’s not “assembled” into anything that could actually be used since it’s still just a picture.

“Ceci n’est pas une pipe”

This is not a pipe, in other words. It’s a picture of a fictional ID, not even a picture of a real ID.

Not only that, but it’s political speech. You’ll not that we usually don’t throw editorial cartoonists in jail for drawing terrorists with cartoon bombs either. Never mind what they draw being done to presidents or such.

Which also goes to intent. He’s not selling the template to make physical IDs, not even giving it away with the intent that people actually use it to make physical IDs… and we haven’t even got to the disclaimer that’s added yet.

Sure, a prosecutor could be a humorless dick and bring it before a judge. If he’s lucky the judge will be as bad and not dismiss the case outright. And that’s just based on first amendment protection of political speech, before even weighing the obvious lack of intent.

But even if he won, would it be worth it? To call even more attention and outrage to himself and the DHS, already so well-loved by the people?

A pyrrhic victory at best.

well it seems that people are mixing facts, this (fake photo card) cant be a felony since it does not fakes anything that may be considered an original, nor official document. Its like printing your own monopoly money and trying to pay with it, felony? hardly.
Awesome idea though, where i can get eps for it?

For legal reasons, the EPS files are no longer available. Sorry.

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