Well, I wish I agreed with your re that there are no similarities here (if I understand you correctly). There’s something peculiarly sinister with the government not wanting regular citizens photographing occurrences affecting the average citizen. As to photographing water dams, nuclear facilities, etc., I can accept that public safety overcomes personal desires to snap photos.
I agree with the “sinister” part, but we are not at the stage where owning a camera is a crime against the state.