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I was stopped and my film exposed after taking pictures of some guardsmen in Nicaragua back in the 80s. I was just glad I was able to bat my eyelashes and plead enough ignorance in my halting Spanish to keep the camera. In the end thy didn't understand the way the camera worked well enough and didn't back the film up so I got the shot anyway.
Just one semi-major incident. Standing on a public street, I once took a picture of the sign at the entrance to a Navy facility in Virginia because my uncle had been stationed there in the 50s. For my troubles I was stopped for half an hour by the MP. They looked at every picture in the camera but in the end they didn't ask me to delete the photo.
An older lady in Brooklyn once came out and asked me why I was taking a picture of her house. I told her I lived in the neighborhood and took a lot of pictures and her flowers were beautiful. She was OK after that. I stopped by to give her a copy of the picture later.
Another time, on a bus in France, someone accused me of taking his picture when I was just scrolling through the pictures I'd taken earlier in the day. It got ugly for a minute but I showed him and some other people there were no pictures of anyone on the bus in my camera. France has stricter privacy laws, so all the people and license plates are blurred out on Google Street View there.
I've also been told I couldn't use a tripod within the boundaries of Rockefeller Center.
When I was in Amsterdam's Red-Light district, I sneaked in a few photos of the hookers in the window... a local saw me doing it and warned "If they catch you taking that photo, they'll throw your camera in the canal!" Apparently they had a whole collection of tourist's cameras down there, LOL. Also when I was in Jerusalem, you were forbidden to take photos at the Western/Wailing Wall - which I expected, so didn't even attempt to get one. That's what postcards are for, I guess!
Once at a Museum in Madrid, Spain where I was somehow oblivious to the dozens of signs that said "No Flash Photography." Absolutely my fault.
The other time was a few months ago in Boston. I tried to snap some photos of one of my favorite art deco high-rises in town. A security guard told me I couldn't do that.
We actually debated this (friendly debate... I told him I wouldn't take the picture but...) as I thought I could take a picture of anything (people, buildings, etc) if I'm standing on a public street or sidewalk. He said no, I can't and listed some pretty reasonable explanations (i.e. peeping tom problems, terror threats, etc). Well, I did some research at home, including calling the building in question. There are some gray areas. Many buildings (in Boston, anyway) own small stretches of the sidewalk adjacent to the building. These boundaries are marked by either different sidewalk surface (i.e. smaller tiles than the public sidewalk) or a thin (usually engraved with the company's name) metal strip running in the seam between two sidewalk tiles. The building I tried to photograph had a metal seam down the sidewalk marking the property line. Of course, if I took a picture within that seam, I'd be shooting from private property which is illegal without permission. I CAN, however, shoot from outside that seam. I have spoken with the guard about this and he checked with management and they agree.
I still don't know how it works with residential property. We have a lot of historic homes up here in residential neighborhoods. While it's not an issue in the central neighborhoods (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, North End, etc) as so many people walk these streets, it can become an issue in more suburban and rural areas. I generally like to ask permission to photograph a house, but it's not always possible. I'm still not 100% sure if it's legal to take a photo of a private home even from a public sidewalk or street. I've heard many conflicting reports.
I'd say that if you have an opportunity, ask the owners (even if you don't NEED to). It can really help avoid problems. You don't always have that opportunity, but when it arises, it can't hurt to ask.
If it is illegal to photograph private homes, Google is in some heap of legal trouble for their Street View photographs.
I haven't, but my teenage dd has. She borrowed my camera to do a high school project with some friends a couple of years ago. I can't remember what the assignment was, but it was something to do with being out in public, and they had to take pictures. They went to a nearby TJMaxx, and my dd took pictures of the two girls shopping. The store manager came over and actually DEMANDED my dd hand over my camera. My dd quickly put my camera (a rather expensive one at that) away and tried to explain what they were doing, and the manager said no cameras were allowed, and told them to get out. They quickly left. I was outraged when I found out, if she had taken my camera there would have been hell to pay. The girls weren't making a scene either, so there was no reason for the store manager to behave so harshly. In fact the girls were already regular shoppers there, and were in fact shopping. I regret now that I never went back to complain, it should have been handled differently.
Back "In the day" you could not even walk thru a Las Vegas Casino with a camera in hand. It had to be under your coat/shirt in a case etc. If you raised it to your eye, security would confiscate the camera....open it...pull the film out and then unspool the film to "check for images" [their words not mine] then hand you the film back.
Okay, you can take photos of federal buildings. You can also take photos inside museums if allowed. Most museums allow photos of their standing exhibits, but deny photos of traveling exhibits. However, many museums are private buildings and a person may deny photos in his private areas at any time. This goes for shopping malls also. ALL malls are privately owned and most have a no photography policy. This is to "protect" their customers. The restrictions on tripods are simply for safety.
In this country, there has been a concerted effort since 9-11 to deny photographers their rights. And it's all stupid. Does anyone really think that some terrorist is going to bring attention to himself by blatently standing around photographing buildings with a honkin' big camera? If anything, he would use a cell phone camera pulled quickly from his pocket. It's all a ploy to impose greater and greater illegal restrictions on photographers.
As for the Vegas casinos, at this time, If you are a tourist, there are few restrictions on what you can photograph. If you are in the photo business, they will stop you, after all, you are infringing on their ability to advertise their casino. Because of that, if you have a small P&S camera, you will not even know security is around. Pull out a D700 Nikon and you will be asked what you are doing.
And BTW, if you are accused of taking a photo from private property (i.e. a mall) no one has the right to take your camera, and in fact, they really don't have any right to ask you to delete the photos you shot. Legally, all they can do is ask you to leave the property. Now, that said, sometimes, especially if it isn't all that important, it's better to comply with the Neanderthal's order to delete the photos instead of making a scene.
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Also when I was in Jerusalem, you were forbidden to take photos at the Western/Wailing Wall - which I expected, so didn't even attempt to get one. That's what postcards are for, I guess!
