A very interesting theory on the subway photography ban,

Experienced detectives will tell you that in an investigation, you often find the people by following the money. In the case of the proposed photo ban, it's already been noted that some income would be produced by fines. It's not clear who'd see that income, nor whether it would be significant enough, by itself, to be motivating. But there's another, and most likely much greater, financial opportunity for a prominent photo ban stakeholder: Homeland Security money for the NYPD Transit Bureau. Someone had an inspiration: if the MTA could be convinced to create, through a Public Authority Rulemaking Procedure, a class of offense that were Homeland Security-related, investigations of suspected violations would create an activity, which would qualify NYPD for a healthy sum of Federal money. Into the bargain, it would take police officers out of harm's way as they spent time with harmless, probably nonviolent suspects. Bureaucratically, the Police Transit Bureau's productivity would increase. Legally, use of Rulemaking Procedure would stand to exploit the affected public's predominant unfamiliarity with Administrative Law, creating what lawyers call "factual evidence" that distorted the true nature of Public Interest. And politically, someone would inevitably claim vote-getting capital. - Trough O'Brien

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