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Surveillance and the First Amendment
Posted by Paul Szynol on Friday, January 17 @ 11:16:03 EST Free Expression
NPR reported this morning that surveillance cameras in DC threaten to dissuade protesters from assembling and exercising their free speech rights--people don't want to be recorded, particularly if there is no guarantee that the images will be discarded within a specified, short period of time.

I personally think that arguing for First Amendment violations in this case is futile. Electronic surveillance will be a standard part of modern society--and, after September 11, certainly so in the US--and the cameras are not actively preventing people from gathering. But it is reasonable to ask whether, because of their effect on people's willingness to assemble, electronic eyes effectively amount to prior restraint; and whether, given this chilling effect, the government has even a hint of a constitutional obligation to ensure that security and free speech interests are more happily balanced.

 
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Re: Surveillance and the First Amendment (Score: 1)
by tbt on Monday, January 20 @ 08:50:57 EST
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You said, "NPR reported this morning that surveillance cameras in DC threaten to dissuade protesters from assembling and exercising their free speech rights--people don't want to be recorded, particularly if there is no guarantee that the images will be discarded within a specified, short period of time. "

That is one of the stupidest things I've heard in years.

Just where were the people who wrote this report and/or made the claims back in the '60s and '70s? I remember covering anti-war, anti-nuke and other demos in DC, Ct, Pa, NY and elsewhere.

One of my first thoughts on covering them was just look at all the fbi-types up on the roofs of almost every building in the area taking pictures of the crowds. Just look at all the press photographers taking pictures of the demos. I wonder just how many of those pix are now in FBI files? I know dozens, if not hundreds are in my files.

I don't recall it stopping me or the hundreds of thousands I mixed with, from demonstrating back then. I seriously doubt it will now.

pace


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