Photographers' Rights

07/26/2012

Sympathizing With The Police (Up to a Point) On Photography

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 1:00pm

This past week we saw a strong step forward on photographers’ rights in Washington DC: a groundbreaking General Order issued by the DC police chief as part of the settlement of an ACLU lawsuit. This is the latest in the ACLU’s ongoing effort to fight for the rights of photographers—especially the right to record police—in courts (and courts of public opinion) around the country.

07/24/2012

Photographers' Rights

Photographing Police: What Happens When the Police Think Your Phone Holds Evidence of a Crime?

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 9:27am

The Washington, DC chief of police on Friday issued a new “General Order” to members of the police department on “Video Recording, Photographing, and Audio Recording of Metropolitan Police Department Members by the Public.” The order, which was part of the settlement of an ACLU lawsuit, includes some very interesting, groundbreaking provisions.

07/06/2012

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age

Friday links roundup

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:38pm

A few links that have caught our eye this past week:

Paul Rosenzweig has posted a nice piece on Lawfare on the reasons to be skeptical of the need for cybersecurity regulation. He breaks cybersecurity down into its constituent parts (as we have urged) of cybercrime, cyber espionage, and truly catastrophic “digital Pearl Harbor” attacks. He suggests that the first two do not justify regulation, and (like us) is skeptical about the degree of risk of the third. In explaining that skepticism, he provides an elegant analysis of the electric grid, the taking down of which is a frequent cyber-attack scenario, and makes the point that the pro-regulation viewpoint “mistakes vulnerability for risk”—in other words, there can be a vulnerability in a system, but still a low risk that anyone will actually be able to or try to exploit it.

05/18/2012

Photographers' Rights

DOJ Defends Your Right to Record

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:24pm

We haven’t pulled punches in our criticism of the Holder Justice Department, so it’s especially important that we give credit where credit is due. In support of an important case brought by the ACLU of Maryland defending the right to record, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division forcefully and unequivocally endorsed our view in an unusual (but welcome!) 11-page letter to the Baltimore Police Department.

05/18/2012

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (5/18/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 3:03pm

In the digital age that we live in today, we are constantly exposing our personal information online. From using cell phones and GPS devices to online shopping and sending e-mail, the things we do and say online leave behind ever-growing trails of personal information. The ACLU believes that Americans shouldn’t have to choose between using new technology and keeping control of your private information. Each week, we feature some of the most interesting news related to technology and civil liberties that we&r

05/03/2012

Photographers' Rights

Police and Photography: Can’t Stop the Signal

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:05pm

There’s been an uptick in protest activity this month around the country–May Day saw a resurgence in the Occupy movement, and further protests are expected around the NATO summit in Chicago, set for May 20th. It’s a safe bet that the vast majority of protesters, police and bystanders are going to have mobile phones (market penetration of the devices in the United States in 2011 was literally more than 100%, meaning lots of folks have more than one, which is so American). It’s also a safe bet that most of those phones will have cameras. Some of those cameras will even be able to take broadcast-quality video.

04/27/2012

dotRights

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (4/27/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 4:01pm

House Passes Controversial Cybersecurity Measure CISPA [Wired]
"The House on Thursday approved cybersecurity legislation that privacy groups have decried as a threat to civil liberties… Its goal is a more secure internet, but privacy groups fear the measure breaches Americans' privacy along the way."
     See Also Keep Domestic Cybersecurity Efforts in Civilian Hands [ACLU]
     See Also Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote [Techdirt]
     See Also The CISPA Amendments We Really Need [Read Write Web]
     See Also White House Threatens Veto, ACLU Says CISPA Amendments Not Enough [Reason]

04/24/2012

Photographers' Rights

All Dressed Up And Nothing to do Except Arrest Photographers

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:31pm

Police around the country continue to violate individuals’ right to photography. A photographer named Carlos Miller maintains a web site in which he chronicles this problem. Now, Miller himself has obtained information about his own arrest for photography, which took place during the eviction of Miami Occupy protesters in January. Using an open-records request, he found that officials at the Miami-Dade Police Homeland Security Bureau, aka Fusion Center, had exchanged numerous e-mails over a period of months, in which they discuss their monitoring of Miller and his activities.