The “kill switch” has been approved in the House and now heads to the Senate. A Senate committee has already approved the bill and a vote on the floor is upcoming. This is an attempt to stop dissent. When politicians say it’s a good idea and China does it, so we must do it, you should worry about your country.
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power to the federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.
Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy and technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other backers of the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be used to stifle free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed in the bill in advance of a vote on the Senate floor.
If you haven’t, here’s a letter from a user on reddit to get the ball rolling. Remember, personalize it in some way and it’s always best to send a handwritten letter instead of a form letter. If you must email it, you can contact your representatives in Congress here.
Dear [your Representative] :
I am a person who believes the primary role of government is to protect its citizens. That role shines beautifully throughout the Bill of Rights, a document that rightfully limits the federal government’s ability to encroach on the people. Since then many laws have acted to abridge freedom rather than preserve it. I am asking that you to proactively take a much needed step to, like the Bill of Rights before, define, for the benefit of the citizenry, an inalienable right that should not be ignored: the freedom to photograph and record on-duty law enforcement.
Nearly every police department, if not all of them, employs the use of recording devices during traffic stops by the way of dash-cam videos, in interrogation rooms, inmate telephone calls from corrections facilities, and so on. Since the camera never lies, these recordings are often used to build a case against offenders. Every action is scrutinized, allowing prosecutors to maximize the number of charges against an offender. However, when it comes to the rights of the citizens to protect themselves with an unblinking, ever-truthful record of an interaction with the police, or if a person chooses to peacefully and un-obstructively document the actions of the police, his liberty is trampled on by an officer who acts out of a desire, more often than not, to protect his own image and position rather than protecting and serving the people. Unfortunately, the occasional bullying that citizen photographers receive from law enforcement is supported by the District Attorneys who choose to prosecute such erroneous and fabricated charges as obstruction, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. A recent occurrence can be seen on a report from Baltimore’s WMAR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNcDGqzAB30
I am asking you to help create parity when it comes to the rights of both law enforcement and the citizens to record one another. Citizens should be free from interference and bullying from both officers who may decide to step outside of their defined role, and from prosecutors who choose to maliciously punish individuals who want to protect themselves with a recording. Please take the lead in upholding our nation’s tradition of limiting government and protecting its citizens by authoring a bill unequivocally protecting the rights of the people to photograph law enforcement.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[your name]
I actually email my representatives quite often. My Congressman and one Senator always call me back. Not surprisingly, Ben Nelson never calls back, but he’s an asshat who is on the opposite side from me so I don’t expect he will ever return a call. I live in a small town and I don’t think many people call, write or email. After a few months of doing this, I’ve come home with messages on my answering machine (yes, I still have a landline) to call them back.
Once, Senator Johann’s called and spoke to me for over an hour about net neutrality. Both Senator Johanns and Rep. Smith have always answered my letters, though Rep. Smith sometimes sends form letters back. I’m a registered independent in a very republican state, but I make sure my voice is heard.
It does work, though responses may vary. If enough people take the time to just write once a month, they will sit up and listen.
Only you can make your representatives pay attention and look at changing the law. If you don’t participate, you can’t blame anyone but yourself when a law comes back on you. Get writing.
Competitive Enterprise Institute Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh debates the proposal to assign all U.S. workers a national I.D. card to combat illegal immigration.
If you don’t understand what the problem is with ID cards, I suggest you go and read 1984.
A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity.
…the bill sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be held in military custody, interrogated for their intelligence value and not provided with a Miranda warning.
The current bill makes no distinction between US citizens and non-citizens, indicating that, if deemed a “belligerent” even a non-military US citizen could be held by the military. Once labeled belligerent and a high-value detainee, an American citizen would be subject to military style interrogation and no Miranda warnings.
The bill asks the President to determine criteria for designating an individual as a “high-value detainee” if he/she: (1) poses a threat of an attack on civilians or civilian facilities within the U.S. or U.S. facilities abroad; (2) poses a threat to U.S. military personnel or U.S. military facilities; (3) potential intelligence value; (4) is a member of al Qaeda or a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda or (5) such other matters as the President considers appropriate. The President must submit the regulations and guidance to the appropriate committees of Congress no later than 60 days after enactment.
To the extent possible, the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team must make a preliminary determination whether the detainee is an unprivileged enemy belligerent within 48 hours of taking detainee into custody.
The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team must submit its determination to the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General make a final determination and report the determination to the President and the appropriate committees of Congress. In the case of any disagreement between the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General, the President will make the determination.
While it is hoped that this bill will die in committee, it is mind-boggling that such an unconstitutional provision would have been proposed to begin with. The only rational explanation is to enable the government to use the military to suppress dissent.
If this bill is passed and becomes a law, it would effectively be a step towards silencing those who would think differently than those in positions of power. The United States saw this type of hysteria before with McCarthyism.
The greater fear as well is that the US military could also employ the services of XE (Blackwater) to assist in the oppression of Americans who believe they still have rights under the constitution.
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