Excuse me... but mother fucker! This confirms all my suspicious about the massive waste of resources and abuse of power that is the Patriot Act. You know this stuff goes on but rarely does it hit so close to home or present itself in such an obvous way.
Granted not all examples are so wastefull.. but this is the fucking height of absuridity and abuse against free speech, civil rights, and worst of all intellectual and artful cultural exploration. It is now obvious that it was a completely politically motivated attempt to use the NYPD's resources to silence opposing speech against Bush and the RNC. They obviously saw the publicity of bikes against bush as some form of attractor, promotional, or escallating element bringing attention to the RNC and anti-bush movement at a time when the city wanted to reduce attention in the press of the subject matter and play down activity. We already know that the majority of all arrests from teh rallies and the critical mass bike ride around this time were thrown out... that they arrested people knowing full well they had no grounds purely to hold them in jails for 48-72 hours until after the RNC. The thing is they dirctly deprived you of your property and speech not just around the RNC but for months and MONTHS afterwards by confiscating and refusing to return your technology so you could demonstrate and present on it... This is particularly disturbng because it was a largely intellectual, artful and largely positive endevor. Indeed it functions in a space that Eyebeam and other artful and educational resources continue to funciton well with-in right now. I think you could in fact consider it an attack on the educational system that is NYU/ITP (or was it Parsons? I forget.) Did the school back you in any of this? I'm guessing not, but they should be backing up their students... they should have provided some legal council to you. It is in fact they that have lost our as much as you. So... did the police actually stake you out and wait for an opportunity to arrest you when they were on the street with your bike? It's not clear from the information I've yet read, but it seems to suggest they didn't simply happen upon you on the street. We all knew the charge of vandalism was bunk... now we see that it was not only bunk but that it may have been planned from the very beginning. It's begining to look like they literally staked you out and sent someone to arrest you on trumped up charges if need be... not the case of some officer bumping into you on the street as it had been originally presented, even if questionably. There's more than enough legal grounds and I hope you find a lawyer who's interested in a conter suit... not for the money... in fact give the lawyer all the money if need be... but to make a statement of this event for all our sakes. It's simply a disgusting abuse of power that makes me worry about our future. BTW, if they were possibly keeping an eye on you, how did they know you'd be on the street talking to Michael Regan of Hardball? Was it by any chance pre-anounced? Let's back up though with the questions. Right now what I'd like is a completely synopsis somewhere where I can link to it and blog about it. I was going to recommend you try and summarize it all up in a blog post, but I realize even for you the facts are evolving so I'd really sggest an open wiki. Perhaps PBwiki? My personal motivations are not so much in seeing some action come of this... though I think you should contact a lawyer... but intellectual. I hope we can document the facts of this case so it can be referred to and made presentable as a study for bloggers, activists, book writers, lawyers, journalists, professors. I personally find it an extremely interesting case and would certainly help gather the facts and details on a wiki. In fact I'll even start the wiki if you give it you yourself will agree to help with the facts and details. Indeed I think I should have hour enthusiastic blessing, because without your input much of the detail will be lost and the facts no doubt sketchy. Is there anyone else here interested in this proposed project. Speaking of which... I'm increasingly aware of the value in Josh Wolf's legal points... they are at the very height of legal argument today and in the coming years as the masses start shooting and sharing videos... that we and our cameras cannot and should not be turned into the eyes and ears of an orwellian style government surveilence system. Does anyone know if there's an information resource on this in wiki form? Maybe the place for this stuff might be on wikipedia in fact. If it's going to go up on wikipedia though it cannot be presented as "original research" it must in fact be footnoted and thoroughly referenced. While much tougher I think it's far more worthwhile and useful to work on wikipedia... I find the peer review process to be flexible enough, and critical enough to be be worthwhile. That's it from me for now. I'll check to see if there's anything on wikipedia on any of these topics. -Mike mmeiser.com/blog mefeedia.com On 3/25/07, Joshua Kinberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Today, I'm unsure how to react to this news -- having your person, > property and rights violated is an unsettling experience. Would > definitely like to hear your thoughts on this as I'm processing the > information. > > On Friday morning, I was informed by a NYTimes reporter that recent > documents uncovered just how far the NYPD went to suppress Free Speech > -- mine and others -- at the Republican Convention in 2004. Here's > what the NYTimes reported in the Sunday edition: > > "City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention" > <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/nyregion/25infiltrate.html?ex=1332561600&en=3af0cd0ac568e430&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink> > > Bikes Against Bush <http://www.bikesagainstbush.com> was my graduate > thesis project, a combination of mechanical engineering, WiFi, > interactive mobile messaging, and videoblogging. It was featured in > Popular Science magazine for the engineering design of the bicycle > that printed chalk text messages sent through SMS and from my website > onto streets and sidewalks in NYC. > > Apparently, the NYPD considered this project to be a threat and was > determined to shut it down. They had a copy of the Popular Science > article in a file along with 4 pages of notes as to why my project was > a threat. This led to my bizarre arrest, which happened on national > television while I was being interviewed by Ron Reagan on MSNBC's > Hardball. > > I was arrested with no crime being committed. Just simply plucked from > the street, jailed for 24 hours, and my computer, cell phone and > bicycle confiscated and held for over a year (the bicycle was never > returned). The fake charges against me were dropped 6 months later. > > The NYTimes article confirms what I had long suspected -- that the > NYPD was unlawfully conducting surveillance of artists, activists, and > others seeking to exercise free speech at the RNC convention in 2004. > > Here are the videos: > > The Bike Project > <http://www.bikesagainstbush.com/blog/iloveny.mov> > > The Arrest -- Street Footage > <http://www.bikesagainstbush.com/blog/bikesarrest.mov> > > MSNBC Interview > <http://www.bikesagainstbush.com/blog/msnbc_8-29-2004_med1.mov> > > BikesAgainstBush was important because it was one of the earliest > demonstrations of the power of the blogosphere to distribute video -- > the raw street-footage of the arrest circulated around the blogosphere > and was viewed by millions of people both before and after the edited > version aired on MSNBC's Hardball. > > Immediately after this project, I began working on software to > distribute video via RSS. I met Jay Dedman around this time in NYC, > and we began working together. This became ANT (ANT's Not Television) > and later FireAnt <http://FireAnt.tv>. > > I wanted to share my thoughts here, in the videoblogging community, as > I'm reflecting today on the state of media, how far we've come and the > work that remains... > > Best, > Josh > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > >
