Dehydration order betnovate in us can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension) by constricting blood colchicine side effects pill vessels, while many medications that doctors prescribe to treat hypertension buy generic kenalog problems may cause dehydration. Other causes include inflammation of the spinal norvasc no rx cord, also called myelitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune viagra australia disorder in which the immune system attacks the PNS. Erectile celexa online stores dysfunction (ED) is the most common sexual functioning side effect spiriva pills of prostate cancer treatment. Screening is especially important before a asacol us person develops symptoms, as it may mean that the condition order discount acomplia receives treatment earlier. The main difference between spring and fall cheap cialis allergies is the type of allergen that triggers symptoms. According buy prozac without prescription to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, COPD buy cheap cialis is a preventable and treatable disease. Retinal migraine and migraine buy viagra lowest price with aura attacks share some symptoms, such as slurred speech, cheapest cialis price headaches, and vision issues. For example, when a person shows no.

Depends on who you talk to.

In Blown to Bits, we talk about citizen vigilantism—people taking vengeance on people they see doing bad things, or just snapping pictures of crimes being committed, pictures that may help identify the culprits. The digital explosion has engendered a lot more of this, for both better and worse—we once did not all have cameras on us all the time.

Of course, a technology generation later, we all have not just still cameras, but audio recorders and video cameras too—in cell phones and even iPods. And people are whipping them out when they observe arrests being made, and are using the recordings to embarrass the the police, or to help in the defense of the party being arrested.

Except now, as the Boston Globe reports,  the police are increasingly fighting back, accusing those making the recordings of illegal surveillance, under wiretapping statutes. It’s a fascinating story. Some of the convictions are standing up in Massachusetts—the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in a split decision that the wiretapping statutes apply, unless the recording was made in a public manner. So people hiding the microphone in their sleeve or the camera in their coat may well be in trouble. Chief Justice Margaret Marshall was in the minority, opining

Citizens have a particularly important role to play when the official conduct at issue is that of the police. Their role cannot be performed if citizens must fear criminal reprisals when they seek to hold government officials responsible by recording, secretly recording on occasion, an interaction between a citizen and a police officer.

I don’t envy the police their job. Hell, I wouldn’t be happy if people were video-recording my  every movement while I was doing my job. But what the police are doing while making an arrest seems to me a public act by definition. In other situations (all those traffic-stop videos we see) the police themselves make sure everything is recorded these days. Can’t see why recording the police arresting someone in the public square wouldn’t fall within citizens’ rights.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Privacy, Surveillance, The explosion, The role of government—laws and regulations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.