The list of objects seized does cause me to hang my head, but with a slight grin. Makes me wonder what the reaction of modern law enforcement would be to search the homes of, say, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc. Or, better yet, da Vinci, Maxwell or other giants of the scientific world. They’d be scared shitless—everything would be a terrorist’s tool!

http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/091007_190001oth.MP3

The story and interview begin at 15:20.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/06/G20.tweeters/

http://archive.wbai.org/

Look for show ‘Off The Hook’ (a show run by 2600 Magazine.) Lots of issues covered, especially the constitutional angles, but also the merits of the search warrant, the items seized, why Twitter was an issue etc.

The State Department protested to the government of Iran when they shut down access to Twitter during the election protests this year.

Yet, when the same thing happens here, use of Twitter to assist protesters … criminalized.

http://kdka.com/local/g20/G20.police.recordings.2.1229524.html

They claim to have proof of police giving protesters an order to disperse while coordinating over the radio to move in and arrest them.

`The thing has been designated ‘hammer and anvil’ and it is essentially an almost military-like maneuver that is used to indiscriminately sweep an area of people who have a legitimate right to be there and have a legitimate right to express their Constitutional rights,” Albert Petrarca, an activist, said.’

Here’s the capper: “…but police are working with the District Attorney to dismiss charges against any people wrongly arrested.”

Kinda puts me to mind of the NYPD’s plan during the RNC, same kinda tactics.

The hilarious thing about the police scanner-internet connection that the cops are pushing, is that live police scanner streams have been available online for years:

http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Internet_and_Radio/Police_Scanners/
http://www.google.com/search?q=nypd+scanners+recording+OR+listen+OR+audio+OR+video+robbery+OR+protest+OR+shot+OR+shooting

During most large scale protests I’ve covered, there’s usually been an SMS service (run by demonstrators) that delivers updates about protest locations, police presence and whatnot. Whether it’s police scanners, or people on the street posting updates from their iphones, or people just calling each other – it doesn’t matter, the word gets around.

This may apply to personal communications, but not to public official communications likes police, fire, etc.

Well, if that’s the case, this is going to be one of those times to say “screw the law, it’s overbroad and unconstitutional.”

@Michaelk42: yes it is selective enforcement
@Carlos Miller: If you publish an written article based on police scanners, yes, it might still be against the federal law. Similarly if you were to publish an article based on conversations heard over marine frequencies, it might also be against federal law. I believe that CB frequencies had a specific exemption.

http://www.juicydevelopment.com/policescanner.html

“It must be pointed out that Juicy Development does not produce the vast majority of the streams that are in the scanner. A few streams are provided by government web sites but the majority of streams are provided by volunteers, hobbyist, and even a few fanatics. Most of theses people are sponsoring or publishing streams at their own expense.”

If it’s always against the law to repeat the info with or without criminal intent, then hello, selective prosecution.