Most utility / telephone poles are located on easements of private property, and those easements have restrictions and limitations. Is the ability for the federal /state/ local government written into the easement? Most of them are very specific about what can and cannot be placed in the easement, and to change them most often requires the approval of the governing authority that placed the easement. Ma Bell fought for a long time to keep other peoples wires off their poles and used those very easement rules as a block. Many utility companies do the same. If you put it on a pole in an easement in my yard, Whicxh is still my yard, I still have to pay taxes on it, it is still "my" property, shouldn't you have to tell me about it?

A pin or pattern / gesture lock is useless if the cops have the phone. They DO have tools to render such trivial things useless. They DO use those tools. I have seen the little box with the multitude of connectors being attached to a phone, and then the phone is unlocked, data dumped, and sorted through. Encryption, strong, non manufacturer based encryption, is the only thing close to safe.

My only problem with this scheme, and I work for the local constabulatory as a civilian, is that they hope to give preferential treatment to the 'press'. If they won't let Joe Citizen have access to, then no one should. Just because you work for a paper or TV or Radio station doesn't make you better or more able to access information than anyone else. Maybe it's different in California, but where I live, there is no law granting the 'press' special powers or privilege to information that is denied to everyone else.

If one had flown and crashed, everyone would have blamed the governments involved for not stopping all the traffic. While I am no fan of the government, this is one where they could not win.
Grimjack

This is what happens when the students are smarter than the teachers.

While the Space Shuttles have had their share of problems, and have cost lives, they are beautiful to watch launch.

Public bans in "Restaurants, Bars, Etc," hmm, who owns the restaurant or bar where you go? Does the government own it? Does the "public" own it? I suspect a person or corporate entity owns it. That would make it a private property, not a public one. Where do you get off telling me or anyone else who my clientele will be? If I want to cater to smokers that should my business choice. Let's have a debate about public smoking since it is an issue, but first, lets remember what "public" is.
Grimjack