[Publius6961]

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani issued the order Tuesday because the site is a crime scene, according to a statement from his office. No one was available early Wednesday to explain why the order wasn't issued earlier.
Officer Michael DiFrancisco, standing guard at a barricade, said the ban was also "out of respect for the families and all those concerned."

Now this is disturbing.
Sounds arbitrary and capricious and sets a curious precedent. Aside from that, the "out of respect for the families and all those concerned is a stretch".
It's PC in it's ugliest form during an event that concerns family... every American citizen.

"All those concerned" includes all of us, whether acknowledged or not.
This notion that nanny government has the rights of an individual is really disturbing.

[DCPatriot]

Another example of "liberties taken...with a stroke of a pen".

[Timesink]

The reason they're banning photography now is because they're finally reaching areas that have large numbers of bodies ... and body parts. Before it was all just I-beams and concrete; now it's fingers.

Also, they're now finding pieces of airplane fuselage and the like. If it's truly a war, why risk letting the enemy see something useful on TV?

[MosesKnows]

signs warning that all cameras and video equipment were forbidden

This warning serves to assure an ample supply of photographs made all the more valuable by the risk and the rarity.

[Wm Bach]

There should be a small pool of photographers allowed on the scene, just for historical purposes if for nothing else, just as the military has photographers along in battle.

It would be a gross outrage to have the rotting, maggot infested hamburger of former loved ones splayed across the front pages of National Inquirer, but for posterity, there needs to be some record, just as there are films of the victims left in holocaust's evil wake.

[tet68]

"Life is risky," Giuliani said Tuesday. "You can decide to live your life afraid of that happening, or you can decide to live your life the way Americans live their lives, which is unafraid."

Challenge and adversity bring out the best in some people!

[Valin]

I was hopeing that some part of the facade would be saved as a memorial to the victims. Some of the images of it were extremely powerful.

[LibWhacker]

Gotta manage public opinion, 'ya know. Colin Powell doesn't want the natives becoming too restless and demanding payback for all the culprits in the Middle East.

[Rustynailww]

the site is copywrited and rudy and bill get a cut.

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

This is very disturbing. The cry went up "Remember the Alamo". The more graphic the pictures, the more the cry "Remember the World Trade Center" will mean. It's almost as if the process to make us forget has already begun.

[IronJack]

I wonder if they're not down to the grisliest part of the task, digging out the huge numbers of bodies that must still be trapped in the debris. That may be the reason for the "no cameras" regulation.

I don't know that legally the mayor can suppress photography at the site, whether it's a crime scene or not. As I recall, numerous photographs of murder victims, burglaries, etc. have appeared in the newspapers over the years. A photograph in no way disturbs the evidence. There's more going on here than meets the eye.