On Thu, 27 Nov 2003, Bob Blakely wrote: > This all started out as a question of the morality of taking certain > photos - reasonably on topic. > > It quickly evolved to include a question of legality of taking certain > photos - still reasonably on topic. > > With Chris Brogden, it morphed into surveillance and rights - on topic? > Questionable. > but I followed. > > He further introduced the US Patriot Act and the thread went entirely off > topic, but again, I followed. > > Now this fellow wants to discuss the 2000 US presidential election! > > Group, I'm sorry I followed Chris down this insipid path. I quit now. If > anyone wants to discuss this or any other off topic subject off-line, you've > got my e-mail address.
Sorry, Bob. I had no idea my evil Canadian schemes would cause you to stray from your always-on-topic, never-political ways. Looks like I'm The Man Who Corrupted Bob. This whole thing started innocently enough <insert birds chirping> when Bob suggested that people take responsibility for their actions while in public, and that it was ok for photos of them to be circulated. I pointed out that this was a dangerous road, and if it's ok for a member of the general public to record and publish photos of others without their knowledge or permission, then what's to stop the government from doing the same thing? Bob responded by saying, correctly enough, that they already record people without their permission and, often, knowledge. Then he argued that that was ok, since the government doesn't have the right to abuse that power. I called him to task on that statement, as the Patriot Act *does* give the US government increased powers to infringe further on its citizens' civil liberties and rights. US citizens, for example, can be detained indefinitely without being charged because they now can be labelled as "enemy combatants." In any case, I've said most of what I want to say about this topic. If US citizens don't care that their government is granting itself more and more authority to pry into their daily lives, then why should I? Heading out to take photos of snow while the back bacon fries, chris
