[eff-austin] [Fwd: Action Alert : Say No To Government Video Surveillance] (fwd)

Jim Choate ravage at einstein.ssz.com
Sun Apr 27 19:14:09 PDT 2003


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 20:00:45 -0500
From: Adina Levin <alevin at alevin.com>
To: eff-austin at effaustin.org
Subject: [eff-austin] [Fwd: Action Alert : Say No To Government Video
    Surveillance]



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Action Alert : Say No To Government Video Surveillance
Date: 	Mon, 21 Apr 2003 16:46:57 -0700
From: 	ACLU of Texas <webmaster at aclutx.org>
To: 	List Member <alevin at alevin.com>



ACLU of Texas Legislative Action Alert


*  /Oppose HB 901/* 	/ *Say No To Total Government Video Surveillance*/





April 21, 2003

Dear ACLU supporter,

I need your help today to oppose a bill in the Texas Legislature that's
poised to be voted on in the Texas House of Representatives this week.
HB 901 authorizes up to 20,000 linked government digital surveillance
cameras to spy on Texans as we move about in public throughout the
state. The bill's supporters justify this expansive surveillance system
by the need to limit cars running red lights.

But once in place, the system could be used for any security purpose. In
Tiananmen Square during the pro-democracy uprising in 1989, cameras
originally installed to regulate traffic were used to identify
individual protesters for retribution b hundreds received imprisonment
or worse because they were identified from the surveillance cameras
hanging from traffic signals.

*I need you to call your State Representative in the Texas House of
Representatives today!* Let them know you oppose HB 901 installing
cameras at intersections for traffic enforcement. Ibve provided some
background information below my signature that will help you prepare to
make your call.

*If you donbt know who represents you in the Legislature, use the search
engine on the Texas capitol web site to quickly figure it out at
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm. *

Please make the call. This is really important b once theybre in place,
surveillance cameras powerful enough to distinguish a license plate
number can conceivably be used for any purpose, both aboveboard and
nefarious. Itbs important to stop this bad idea now before the cameras
are in place and they become a lot more difficult to regulate.

These are trying times, and itbs important that those of us who care
about liberty and freedom continue speak out. Thanks for calling your
State Representative as soon as possible, and thank you for your support
for civil liberties in Texas.

Sincerely,
Will Harrell
Executive Director
ACLU of Texas

Donbt be surprised if the person who answers the phone asks a question
or two about the bill. Herebs some background to read before you make
your phone call:
* *
*Current Law:*
Traffic tickets are issued in person by law enforcement officers.

*Privacy:  One Nation Under Surveillance*
Developments in digital video, infrared, x-ray, wireless, GPS,
biometrics, image scanning, voice recognition, DNA, and brain wave
fingerprinting provide government with new ways to "search" individuals
and collect vast databases of information on law-abiding Texans. The
proliferation of government and private databases with our personal
information in it is a real cause for concern. *Big Brother is possible
today*.

Personal information about Texans that is captured by our government is
typically sold and frequently ends up on television or the internet.
*Government already sells embarrassing personal scenes* involving Texans
to TV shows like bCopsb.

Government can use digital cameras to enforce criminal laws against
Texans.  Texas Attorney General John Cornyn (Opinion JC-0460) held that
government can use surveillance cameras to enforce criminal laws against
Texans. This practice has been banned in the European union to limit
privacy abuses by law enforcement. After these 20,000 cameras are
installed, government can arrest individual Texans for any criminal
violations committed in public, including failure-to-wear-a-seatbelt and
jay-walking.

The sponsor of the bill hasnbt even considered all the consequences.
Asked whether there will be a privacy problem when rental car companies
must provide all of our private rental information to the government,
Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) replied:
*bI hadnbt thought about it from that standpoint.b*
* *
* *
*Due Process:  No Actual Notice Required . . . Car Impounded*
* B7*The proposed citations will not punish the driver -- a citation will
be mailed to the owner of the car no matter who was driving.  HB901 will
have little or no effect on commercial drivers, teenage drivers, car
thieves, and other non-owner drivers.  There is *no requirement that the
owner actually receive notice* of any violation.  Nonetheless, the
punishment for repeated failure to respond is *the government can
impound your vehicle.*
* *
* *
*Government Abuse:  Yes, Even In Texas*
Even the very best governments are burdened by some abuse.  In this
case, the potential for abuse will increase with the surveillance powers
b exponentially.  In Washington DC police were caught using police
surveillance databases to gather information on certain paramours the
then blackmailing citizens who were married.  In Detroit police used
their police surveillance databases to help their friends or themselves
stalk women, threaten motorists, and track estranged spouses.


*Ineffective:  No Heinous Deaths Prevented By Mailed Citation*
The proposed camera system will not fulfill its purported function.  The
camera system is being proposed to decrease the number of traffic
fatalities caused by drivers who run red lights.  Drivers who commit the
senseless and irrational act of driving so fast and late through a red
light that they can cause a fatality or serious wreck will not be
stopped by the notion that the owner of the vehicle might later have to
pay a small civil fine.  Such a heinous act is so perilous and
life-endangering that it defies reason.  Unfortunately, HB901 will have
no effect on this type of irrational crime.


*Say NO to Total Government Video Surveillance*

Please do not redistribute after April 30th, 2003
Visit our website for updates





------------------------------------------------------------------------


ACLU of Texas
PO Box 3629
Austin,TX 78764-3629



Phone:(512) 478-7309
Web site: http://www.aclutx.org
E-mail: info at aclutx.org <mailto:info at aclutx.org>











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