Back in July I wrote about Mary Jean, the activist who fought the Massachusetts State Police when they tried to force her to stop publishing a video that depicted police misconduct.
Unfortunately, this case was not unusual. Law enforcement usually says “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t worry about being observed/videotaped/wiretapped/searched.”
Until it is law enforcement that finds its behavior under surveillance.
Naturally, this is one of my favorite subjects – where governmental abuse and the First Amendment meet in a street brawl. Well, I found someone who is absolutely obsessed about it (and I mean that in a good way). Carlos Miller is a Miami photographer who was arrested for refusing to stop photographing some Miami cops who, from what I have seen, shouldn’t have had anything to worry about. They weren’t even doing anything wrong – yet.
Miller is definitely the anti-ass-hat. He appears to have been offered some pretty nice plea deals, but he is sticking to his guns and fighting his case to the end. His blog, highly recommended, is Photography is not a crime, It’s a First Amendment right.
