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CAN SOMEONE—ANYONE, ANYWHERE—EXPLAIN WHAT IT ALL MEANS?
I tried it once…and couldn’t get away from the damned prying thing. They kept reinstating it! So here, from Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal yesterday, is how to to it (and they don’t make it easy at all):
On one October 2007 evening, Boston attorney Simon Glik, was walking past Boston Common where Boston police officers John Cunniffe, Peter Savalis and Jerome Brewster were effecting an arrest. Hearing a nearby person state, “Stop! You’re hurting him!” Glik began video recording the incident from approximately ten feet away, using his cell phone. Shortly thereafter, Glik was arrested and his cell phone confiscated.
Charged with violation of the Massachusetts wiretap statute(Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99(C)(1)), In February, 2008, the Boston Municipal Court summarily disposed of the wiretap charge, noting, “the fact that the officers were unhappy they were being recorded during an arrest . . . does not make a lawful exercise of a First Amendment right a crime.”
Glik filed a civil rights action against the officers and the City of Boston in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts when his internal affairs complaints were ignored. Summarily, The People’s Republik moved to dismiss Glik’s complaint asserting that his allegations failed to adequately support his claims and that officers were entitled to qualified immunity “because it is not well-settled that he had a constitutional right to record the officers.” The court denied the motion and the commonwealth’s interlocutory appeal followed in which they did not prevail.
In its opinion, the court stated, “Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting ‘the free discussion of governmental affairs.’” And the court ruled “a citizen’s right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public place is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment…”
In the wake of this opinion are the countless arrests in the Granite State for the very same activities, as detailed numerous times in the New Hampshire Union Leader. The one incident that comes to mind is a Sheriff’s Deputy attempting to thwart Representative Gary Hopper from video-recording in the Legislative Office building back in 2010. Finally, House Bill 145 , presently languishes in the Senate and has met with a great deal of resistance from Law Enforcement.
Police are concerned that the bill fails to protect both their privacy and that of the public they serve. Privacy? What privacy? they are Public servants subject to the accountability to that same public they serve!
The most recent such move is the purchase of T-Mobile by AT&T. (Would that make them AT&T&T?) The debate is on whether or not this is good for broadband. Potential competitors say no, obviously, but most almost everyone else seems to think yes.
Former GraniteGrok writer Tom Flaherty wrote and distributed the email below. I find that I agree with him. So as of today I have "deactivated" (you can’t erase it) my Facebook account. When the Facebook Fascists asked why I was leaving, I said "I don’t like your selective political favoritism." In fact, I don’t like their left-wing statism. So screw Facebook. (For an upcoming alternative that will respect privacy and hopefully not use itself as a left-wing political weapon, check out Altly.com.)
Read on….
Courtesy of Hot Air–I confess that this is just cool. It is a live concert (the band is live) at which a holographic Anime pop singer, performs for the crowd. Whether or not you like the song, or Anime, the holographic technology is…to quote my teenage boys…sick. Check it out. Then follow the link–there’s another … Read more
On Saturday during our MTNP radio interview (listen to podcast here) with Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta– a candidate for the Republican nomination for NH’s 1st Congressional District seat– I learned that part of the so-called "cars for clunkers" process required the computer user to agree to give the federal government full rights to the contents … Read more
The last time they did the census, I decided that I only owed them the answer to how many people live in my house. Unfortunately, that was the same year we were picked for the census "long form" asking a variety of questions that in my mind went far beyond the Constitutional requirements. Long story … Read more
Here at the ‘Grok, like many Americans, we value this wonderful thing known as the Internet. Whether for work, play, or communication, its uninhibited use is something that all of us take for granted. Can you imagine being someplace where that wasn’t the case? Certainly many people got a small glimpse at Internet control during the Olympic … Read more
Photos of Lake Erie test firing SM3 missile I have been among those eagerly awaiting the shoot down of the errant satellite while still in orbit around the Earth. Today we got the good news, courtesy of the NavyTimes: The Navy cruiser Lake Erie successfully shot down a malfunctioning spy satellite Wednesday night over the Pacific … Read more
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“The Clock Is Ticking, Placing Internet Tax Freedom In Real Jeopardy. This National And Global Communication Network And The Economy That Surrounds It Deserves The Certainty Of A Permanent Ban To Ensure That Resources And Sustainable Business Plans Can Be Put Into Action. Taxing The Information Superhighway Is Short-Sighted Policy That Will Discourage Innovation, Slow Broadband Deployment, And Raise Prices For Consumers.”
It is not over until Nov 1. They have already voted on a number of the Democrats’ measures which are only temporary bans with loop holes. The Sununu permanent ban will come to the floor for an up or down vote either today or Monday. If that fails they still have one more shot to re-introduce it under rule 14…there is still hope!
.. . Imagine our surprise when we checked our SiteMeter this morning and it was like it was a year ago all over again. In a mere 8 hours, we lost some 40% off our average daily visitor tally. Did this happen to anybody else out there? When going to bed, we had nearly 800 visit "hits" … Read more
This is an interesting story that further proves the fact that we live in an age of the "new media." World’s Oldest Newspaper Goes Digital Monday February 5, 2007 7:01 PMBy KARL RITTER Associated Press Writer STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) – For centuries, readers thumbed through the crackling pages of Sweden’s Post-och Inrikes Tidningar newspaper. No … Read more