I’m not clear what the ACLU thinks about vaccine registries, passports, or the growing tendency in some countries to chip their employees or citizens, but they’ve got their dander up about Elf on a Shelf.
Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, told the New York Times that the toy is normalizing the idea of surveillance.
“I know a lot of families just see this as a fun thing, but it’s worth thinking about the messages it’s giving to children about surveillance by authorities,” Stanley told the newspaper.
“Personally, I consider success as a parent to be teaching my kids to do the right thing even when nobody is watching, whether they be from the North Pole or anywhere else,” he continued.
Wait, it gets better.
Caitriona Fitzgerald, deputy director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, essentially said that the Elf toys are perverts.
Fitzgerald told the newspaper that “no one should be looking at you in your bedroom without consent.”
“I don’t want to be the first one to take Santa Claus to court for invasion of privacy, but consent matters, and having privacy matters,” he added.
I’m guessing that spying on the campaign was a no-no, as is the entirety of the Obama Presidency, which weaponized surveillance and the FBI.
Yes, no, maybe?
Or Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Amazon, or everyone else who spies on us?
I won’t wait for a response. I’m sure it’s selective, like how the NH ACLU (NYCLU) opposes vaccine passports because it might expose illegal immigrants to law enforcement.
That’s funny. I thought you’d stopped enforcing the law where it involves likely Democrat voters.
