NEW YORK CITY — The city government of New York City has proposed rules that would require photographers and film/video makers of all kinds to get permits and million dollar insurance policies to shoot any footage within the city bounds.The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting would require a permit for filming or photography that involves “an interaction among two or more people at a single site for 30 or more minutes” and for a shoot involving five or more people using a tripod for more than 10 minutes.

The new restrictions would make shooting anything amateur, including a student project or a wedding, as well as anything pornographic nearly impossible.
The New York Civil Liberties Union is ready to fight against the regulations in court if they are enacted without revision, one of the organization’s lawyers, Christopher Dunn to the Associated Press.

“There is no way that they should be requiring permits for people using hand held cameras,” Dunn insisted. “It would give the police license to stop virtually anyone, and that opens the door to harassment.”

City officials insist the rules aren’t an attempt to quash free speech.
People unable to afford liability insurance, which could cost between $500 and $1,000 per shoot, could apply to the city for a waiver but the chances that the city would grant such a waiver to a pornographer is unknown.