Blog: Photography Is Not a Crime
Alias: None
Age: 43
Primary specialty: Testing the boundaries of a citizen's right to photograph in public places
Secondary specialty: Exposing bad cop behavior
Last job: Arizona Republic reporter
Net worth: N/A
Criminal record: On February 21, 2007, Miller was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence after he snapped photos of four Miami police officers interviewing a person on Biscayne Boulevard. Miller refused the cops' orders that he stop taking pictures. A year later, a jury sentenced him to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service, and ordered him to take anger management classes. After he appealed and won a new trial in 2009, prosecutors dropped the case. The same year, cops arrested and handcuffed Miller during Memorial Day weekend for public intoxication. He still managed to snap their photos and ask for their names. Prosecutors later dropped the charge.
Blog history: Miller launched his blog shortly after his first arrest as part of a personal crusade against police officials who put citizens in jail for taking their picture. He has also antagonized filmmakers, security guards at Metrorail stations, and Transportation Security Administration agents while testing his constitutional right to photograph and film in public places. Last year, he sued Miami-Dade County, claiming a Metrorail security guard had assaulted him and snatched his camera. He also organized a protest in Fort Lauderdale involving 30 photographers at a filming location for the movie musical Rock of Ages after Broward cops tried to claim it was illegal to shoot pictures of the set, which was on a public street. This past November, he accompanied members of the Occupy Miami movement to the offices of Miami's congressional leaders and rankled staffers for U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio. At Nelson's office, an intern tried to swipe Miller's camera and threatened to sue for recording him. At Rubio's place, staffer Alyn Cruz Higgins kicked Miller out because he would not stop filming a meeting with Occupy protesters.
Why he's No. 4: Miller is the only blogger using his social media skills as a call to arms. And he effectively uses his experience as a journalist to draw media attention to his protests.
