I received a call from a NCPD detective. He was from the intel unit of the anti-terrorism department. He told me that I was spotted while spotting in Costco parking lot (no pun intended); and he traced me from my licence plate. He had already done a pretty thorough investigation on me by visiting my photos on pbase and reading my various comments on a.net. The reason for the call, he told me, was that some of the captions on my photos contained too much technical details to "make him nervous".
I asked for examples and he pointed out this photo, which contatined the caption of "RWY 31R" . The URL is http://www.pbase.com/mugong/image/55975967. According to him, this allowed others to quickly identify whick JFK runway can handle what type of aircraft; and to him, this was too much easy info for the potential terrorists.
I found this to be somewhat amuzing so I assured him that this was probably the least amount of technical info. I pointed out that since he had visited a.net, he sure must have seen many photos there containing the same kind of info as which aircraft was taking off or landing on such and such runway at such and such airport. So this is a very common practice for the spotters; and this kind of info is readily available through many public channels. He countered that we shouldn't be so readily provide this kind of info; and every effort would help to make the life "a bit more difficult" for the bad guys. Realizing there is not much a point discussing the finer details with him, I agreed to "be careful" about what I will write.
Then the topic shifted to using Costco for spotting and spotters in NY area. I told him about this site and the fact that we feel our presence at these sites adds more watchful eyes for any illegal activities. He didn't disagree with me but suggest that maybe we should contact the Port Authority so that an area within the airport can be cleared for us for spotting. :-).
To be sure, he told me a few times that what I did was entirely legal and he understood that it's just a hobby of mine. He said that he considered the case closed and we finished the conversation.
Any thoughts and comments?
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