Wendy McElroy brings an important issue to our attention — the increasing criminalization of filming / recording on-duty police officers.
The techno-progressive angle on this would have to take sousveillance into consideration. If our only response to a surveillance state is to observe “from the bottom” (as, for example, Steve Mann would have it), and if that response is made illegal, it seems that the next set of possible steps forward could include more entrenched recording of all personal interaction.
Already we have a cyborg model for this — “eyeborgs” Rob Spence and Neil Harbisson. So where next?
Resources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section3b.t-3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann
http://jointchiefs.blogspot.com/2010/06/camera-as-gun-drop-shooter.html
The only way to really fight this is to get the issue into the courts. So the next time you try to shoot video of a police officer doing his duty (or worse) and s/he give you a hard time about it, DON’T BACK DOWN. Roll tape and take the punches if they come. And then get a good lawyer who has experience with civil rights abuses/cases and knows a little more than most about digital technology.