The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service is reminding its security guards that the general public has the right to take photographs and shoot video outside the courthouses, office buildings and campuses they protect.

The reminder is part of a federal court settlement with the New York Civil Liberties Union, following a suit where they represented a photographer who had been arrested for making videos of a demonstration outside a Federal courthouse.

The settlement "clarifies that protecting public safety is fully compatible with the need to grant public access to federal facilities, including photography of the exterior of federal buildings," according to FPS spokesman Michael Keegan.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, said. "This is a victory for freedom of expression and it means that photographers, including tourists, who are trying to take pictures outside federal buildings ought to be able to do so without interference."

(Dave Sagarin, October 20, 2010)