Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation authored a op-ed piece for the latest edition of Make Magazine (which magazine, is, by the way, probably the coolest magazine ever, but I divagate…).

His article argues that it is unconscionable for museum officials to prohibit the photographing of national treasures (such as Michelangelo’s David) all in an effort to make a few bucks selling official prints. Copyright law, he states, does not apply to works that are hundreds of years old. Says Cory, “The point of a museum is to spread culture, not restrict it in order to run a penny-ante picture-postcard racket.” His sentiments struck a chord with me; I completely agree with him.

If you’ve been to many museums lately, you’re entirely familiar with the anti-camera stance. Over the Christmas holiday break, I visited a number of museums in the Museum District of Houston, Texas. At one art museum, they featured ancient African art and artifacts. There too, pictures were prohibited. Not heeding the countless signs, I whipped out my Sony Cyber-shot digital camera and began shooting. A security guard approached me.

“I hope you’re not going to take pictures in here,” she said.
“Why would I do such a thing,” I replied.

She left, I reluctantly put away my camera and instead took out my handy Treo 650 cell phone/PDA and pretended to be engaged in vigorous PDA work, all along, taking still and video shots of the art. Here are a few of the results of my passive insurrection: