Reply #52: I hope the ACLU gets involved... [View All]

...it seems to me that it must be unconstitutional to forbid citizens from recording their interactions with public officials. If not that broad, then certainly recording our interactions with law enforcement ought to be protected.

In an era when a show like COPS can air on the public airwaves (unthinkable when I was growing up BTW), it is unbelievable to me that they are trying to limit our powers to record what actually happened in encounters with law enforcement.

Of course, the reason for these laws is that there have been so very, very many recordings where law enforcement is shown behaving in illegal, unprofessional and even brutal conduct. With all of the resulting publicity. Well, too friggin' bad, they ought to modify their own behavior rather than trample our rights.

For this particular case, it is of course an overreach of the authorities, who want to make it more difficult for us to engage in civil disobedience of any kind. Therefore, if they can find a way to throw the book at an activist who was selling $1 patches, they will do so. I am reminded of the young man in Tunisia, who burned himself because his fruit stand was confiscated by the authorities. Not that this approaches that one in terms of what has been done; however, the principle remains the same: people are becoming more desperate for ways to earn a living, while at the same time authorities are cracking down more and more so they can collect more taxes. And the authoritarians love, just love, to make examples of people, in this case by finding a way to charge him with a felony.

K&R