Message posted by Jack Torres (Member since 08/11/2020) on December 16, 2022 at 19:34:53 PST:
You are right that this is where the law gets sticky. But we have to understand two things. Number one, was Gabe considered to be on Military property when he took the photos in his Cessna? If so, then it is un-lawful to take photographs without permission. If the lawyers determine he was in public airspace and land, then he did not commit a crime taking the photos. Number two, you are taking a chance anytime you take a photo of a classified military installation. You will never know if you took a photo of a classified program, and you don’t need to know to be prosecuted. The military knows exactly what is in the photo and it is in their discretion to prosecute and investigate. Nine times out of ten they will not prosecute if you did not show malice. But sometimes they need to make an example in order to protect the installations. The whole point is, sometimes aviation enthusiast get a little too wrapped up in the hobby and it is the AFOSI job to reign it in to protect national security. Gabe exploited some Loopholes, it had been a while since photos of this quality had made it all over the web, things were probably getting a little hot in the AF ranks and they needed a couple raids and investigations to cool everyone down a bit. Everyone meaning the Aviation Enthusiast who takes pictures and the AF members who are un-happy that these photos are all over the media. It is simple as that
In Reply to: Re: Beyond the Strange Podcast Discussion posted by Mark on December 16, 2022 at 18:38:57 PST:
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