Why does photography have such a negative public perception and what can we do as a community to change that?

Although I am not stopped personally too frequently while out and about shooting street photography I know that some of my photographer friends are very often questioned about their intentions when it comes to shooting in public. My most recent confrontation was earlier today by a security guard. I was stood by the side of the road with my camera and he came over and asked me to remove my headphones. He asked what I was photographing and I showed him my camera screen. I was friendly and polite and he was in return. However he then said that I should be careful "after current events with people being injured and that I should watch out for people wanting to question me when I'm photographing." I asked jokingly if it had been photographers committing crimes and he said no, but that it was suspicious activity.This got me thinking - why exactly is photography so associated with crime? Surely people who are up to no good would use their iPhones, or even Google Maps to plan any kind of act of terror. Even paedophile would be a bit more discreet surely?I'm genuinely interested to know what kind of precident or examples there are of photography being directly linked to a cause of a crime or act of terror?I'm also curious to know whether there is a movement in the photographic community to help dissolve this negative perception on photography and photographers. via /r/photography https://ift.tt/2LRiWxV