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@petersuber@fediscience.org · 3 weeks ago

"Justice Department Says Filming Immigration Raids Is 'Domestic Terrorism'."
https://reason.com/2025/12/26/justice-department-says-filming-immigration-raids-is-domestic-terrorism/

This is the best evidence yet that the #Trump admin is turning the term "domestic terrorism" into an all-purpose pejorative for whatever it dislikes.

Three quick legal notes:
1. In the US, it is not a crime to video police making arrests, provided one does not interfere with their work. So said #SCOTUS in Glik v. Cunniffe (2011).
2. If an act is not already a crime, then even a high-level decision to call it "domestic terrorism" does not make it a crime.
3. Making an act a crime requires legislation (yea, constitutional legislation). In a country with no kings, an executive diktat does not suffice.

#EmptySignifier #FloatingSignifier #FirstAmendment #Terrorism #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

petersuber

@petersuber@fediscience.org replied · 2 weeks ago

Update. "Filming #ICE agents is a #FirstAmendment right. So why might it land you in jail?"
https://san.com/cc/filming-ice-agents-is-a-first-amendment-right-so-why-might-it-land-you-in-jail/

#DHS says filming law enforcement intrinsically hinders law enforcement. #KristiNoem even calls it "violence" against officers. If true, it would fall into the "interference" exception SCOTUS recognized in Glik v. Cuniffe (2011).

But when DHS and Noem press their absurd claims in court, they lose. "In the ongoing legal battles about whether or not people can legally film ICE activity in public, at least seven federal courts have ruled that it is a First Amendment right to record law enforcement agents in public."

#USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

petersuber

@petersuber@fediscience.org replied · last week

Update. Yesterday's killing of #ReneeNicoleGood is getting massive public attention because it was recorded.

Please bring your phone to demonstrations!

Here's some advice on reducing the risks.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2020/06/tactics-to-secure-phone-before-a-protest/

Do worry about the risks, but don't forget the risks of leaving law-enforcement violence unrecorded.

#Cameras #ICE #LittleBrother #Trump #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

crumbletiltskin

@crumbletiltskin@mastodon.social replied · 2 days ago

@petersuber tactic no1: Do not bring a phone of any sort.

petersuber

@petersuber@fediscience.org replied · 6 days ago

Update. In my previous post I linked to June 2020 advice from #AmnestyInternational on how to protect your phone from police searches when you attend a protest.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2020/06/tactics-to-secure-phone-before-a-protest/

For something more recent, see this Nov 2024 advice from @eff.
https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest

#Phones #Surveillance

Mark 🇨🇦💪

@mark@canuck.social replied · 2 days ago

@petersuber @eff Use GrapheneOS and set up a duress PIN should be on this list. (write the duress pin on a note inside the phone case, curious officer when unable to Cellebrite the phone will try it)

petersuber

@petersuber@fediscience.org replied · 2 days ago

Update. Here are two welcome updates on recording #ICE.

1. "Gov. Tim Walz encourages Minnesotans to film ICE agents for future prosecutions."
https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/14/gov-tim-walz-encourages-minnesotans-to-film-ice-agents-for-future-prosecutions/

2. "How One Guy Crowdsourced More Than 500 Dashcams for Minneapolis to Film ICE."
https://archive.is/ZBjKV

#FirstAmendment #Minnesota #Trump #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

crazyeddie

@crazyeddie@mastodon.social replied · 20 hours ago

@petersuber I really hate that Amazon is being used to provide the dashcams.

Dan Hugo

@danhugo@fosstodon.org replied · 6 days ago

@petersuber @eff

Probably the second best time to look seriously at @meshtastic and similar…

"Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods" https://www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phones-in-entire-neighborhoods/

404 Media

Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods

404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.

Ricardo Harvin

@ricardoharvin@mstdn.social replied · 3 weeks ago

@petersuber Yes, absolutely true, and...

https://mstdn.social/@ricardoharvin/113478597021193037

Lazy B0y

@lazyb0y@mastodon.social replied · 3 weeks ago

@petersuber

„injustice department“

Legit_Spaghetti

@Legit_Spaghetti@mastodo.neoliber.al replied · 3 weeks ago

@petersuber Filming ICE? Domestic terrorism. Taking pictures of ICE? Domestic terrorism. Releasing unredacted Epstein Files? Believe it or not, domestic terrorism. Protesting the administration? Domestic terrorism, right away. Overcharging for eggs? Domestic terrorism, right to jail, right away. Undercharging for legal advice? Believe it or not, also domestic terrorism.

caitp

@caitp@mstdn.social replied · 3 weeks ago

@petersuber @AnnaAnthro I thought they wanted to be on camera, isnt that why they sent dr phil out with them, and publish propaganda videos of arrests?

so the official subjective narrative in video is fine, but an objective, unedited perspective, that's "terrorism", sure

Matthias Krämer

@Kraemer_HB@mastodon.social replied · 3 weeks ago

@petersuber In Germany, some banks have recently debanked left-leaning organizations, probably after the US government used the term terrorism so loosely against antifa.
This playbook means: Not the state will charge someone for a non-existent crime after videos of police brutality make their rounds, but platforms in Trumps butt will deplatform the people that upload such videos, making it more effective censorship than a state agency could ever achieve.

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