4th Amendment Speech Against Lancaster Camera Surveillance

Sam Ettaro of Republic Media invited me to visit Lancaster, PA, in the middle of rural Amish country and speak at an event he organized there to stop the camera surveillance program there. I was glad to have a chance to give a speech on the 4th Amendment. Although many privacy advocates today believe this issue to be a muddied one, courtesy of the Supreme Court, if you read the Constitution it is crystal clear. However, since I had not been to Lancaster recently, I had no idea how widespread the camera system was. This story has national implications as the city is a prototype site for possible roll-out to other towns and cities across the USA.

Lancaster is a small town of about 50,000 people. They have the country’s oldest farmer’s market, and many of the buildings are pretty, historic, colonial buildings. As I drove through town, sure enough the cameras were looming above each intersection. The march began at a baseball field with four cameras overlooking it, and proceeded through a residential area to Lancaster’s downtown with more homes, public buildings and many businesses. Personally, I felt pretty creeped out and found myself scanning the skies for the next camera. Can you imagine strangers with the ability to track your every move throughout a city?

There is a total of 165 cameras spanning the city right now, costing over $3 million to build. These cameras are pretty high-tech. They swivel towards motion and zoom in, and are all networked. Apparently there is masking technology so they are not able to zoom into private homes and businesses.

Ettaro and the Lancaster citizens there led by Renee Baumgartner related to me that Bosch began its relationship with the city by giving it free test cameras for use, but is now deriving revenue from the taxpayer, as well as the controversial private company, the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition, which monitors the video feed. You can read more about them here in “He’s Safety Czar, Not Big Brother.” An unelected ‘Safety Czar,’ that is.

Ettaro and Baumgartner claim that this issue is like an onion, the more layers peeled back the deeper down the rabbit hole the issue goes. Besides the controversial evidence surrounded Bosch and the city related in this video, they also related their new findings that PENNDOT is continuing work on biometric REAL ID in Pennsylvania. Apparently, they have all the contracts and proof and are in the middle of posting them for the public. I look forward to reviewing these documents.

Below is the speech I gave. My thoughts on the whole experience is that the cameras are clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment and are therefore illegal. However, I do believe that the local people there can give up their rights to privacy if they so choose, but I believe this to be a situation where even one resident or business owner on a street refuses to surrender their rights, the camera should not monitor the entire area. From the LCSC website and from talking with the citizens present, it appears Lancaster instituted this program with no public vote and very little debate. Public notification consisted of 15,000 postcards mailed after the camera system was already setup. Judging from the car honking, cheering from the neighborhood’s windows, and a few chats I had with store owners, those being watched do not want these cameras either.

In my opinion, the cameras MAY serve to deter it from the monitored areas, but likely will just displace the crime. I have not seen reliable crime statistics from either the city of Lancaster or elsewhere to comment, but apparently there was a murder right in front of a camera several weeks ago. Perhaps what citizens in the area need to do is not shuffle the responsibility for their safety to this really Orwellian all-seeing eye, but to take action themselves.

During our march, two officers on horseback and a few officers on bikes kept tabs on us. It was somewhat ironic that the taxpayer was paying these officers to watch us peacefully protest the “public safety” system of cameras instead of having them patrol the areas.  My speech:

“I would like to start off by saying thanks to Sam for his invitation to speak.

The last 4 years of my life were spent in Shanghai, China as an expatriate engineer working in semiconductors. In March I returned to my home in the Lehigh Valley to run for United States Congress because liberty is under attack. I am running as an unaffiliated private citizen because 1) I hold the Republican and Democratic Parties accountable for the damage to our liberties and 2) my only real chance of winning and spreading the message is to appeal directly to all the people in my area, regardless of which party they are from. Now before moving to China I will be quite honest with you and say I was completely politically apathetic. So what happened to me while I was over there?

[Paraphrasing this paragraph as I didn't write up this part of the speech.] [Shanghai is a city of 20 million people, but there are very few churches. After arriving in China, I couldn't speak the language very well, and wanted to attend a Christian service in english. I found a place and during my first service (and all of the following ones, the pastor stated that anyone who did not have a foreign passport (the locals) had to leave. By doing this, the Chinese government tried their best to isolate the foreigners from the locals, whose service was in the mornings.

After several weeks, I noticed that directly above the two main entrances was a black bubble with a security camera. Thereafter, I used to joke that if I ever wanted to know how many services I missed, I would have to ask the Chinese government. However, having those cameras there started getting me thinking about my privacy – and how thankful I was to not have my churchgoing tracked in the United States. Now, in China there are cameras in a lot of the public spaces in Shanghai, and the major intersections, but nothing like here in Lancaster! The degree of monitoring here is far worse!]

Now in China’s case, the same reason is given by the government for the cameras as here in Lancaster – it’s for “public security” – but it is no secret to the Chinese people that their government does not want them to form organized groups to cause economic or political unrest. And the situation there is far better than from 1950-1980. Under Mao Tse-Tung, the Communists built a totalitarian state where everyone spied on everyone else. Those who did not conform were forced to say public confessions for the smallest of violations and even for thought crimes. Many were sent to work camps to die, and the family unit was all but destroyed.

Before the invention of surveillance cameras, in communist East Germany, about 1 in 100 people either volunteered or were compelled by their government to become an informer for the dreaded secret police, the Stasi. They spied on their families, friends, customers, neighbors. People were whisked away in the middle of the night to be taken to prison. If we look at Stalin’s Soviet Union and its GULAG system, the evil KGB acted in the same manner. Same in Pinochet’s Chile, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, etc. As a matter of fact when many think of the evil of totalitarianism, secret spy networks is usually what comes to mind.

Yet with the misuse of modern technology provided by Bosch and other companies, what once took tens of thousands of informants can now be achieved by a few companies in cooperation with the government. This surveillance is very un-American and let me explain why.

But first, it may be true that many do not feel scared by the encroachment of the police state. Many probably view these cameras as mere nuisances because they have been tricked into believing that Big Brother is necessary and helpful for the public safety, and because many still enjoy a high level of material comfort. But look where this government has led us! The government’s actions are responsible for the current unemployment, a national debt now growing by trillions of dollars ever year, price inflation by the money-printing of the Federal Reserve, and the underpayments and imminent bankruptcy of our society’s safety nets – Social Security and Medicare – in the coming decade.

Now what makes our society different? Our natural rights to privacy from warrantless search and seizure is protected by the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution, which is still the supreme law of our land. Let me read it to you:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Let me break that down a bit for you – what this means is that each person is protected against “unreasonable searches” unless there are “warrants” issued by a court for “probable cause” that specifically state what is to be search and seized. Our constitution requires the government to have a warrant when it wishes to look into the private affairs of individuals. The public must always be extremely wary when granting the government spying power over our private homes, places of business, churches or when we meet with friends or groups.

If I make an assumption that politicians from the city of Lancaster are saints – I mean everyone knows politicians are saints these days and would never use public funds for private jets, cheating on their wives, or embezzlement, right? – Even if we make this assumption that they are saints and truly only concerned about the public safety, what is to prevent future politicians or employees of the private spy company from spying on opponents or using the system for personal gain? Or doctoring the video feed to portray a false crime?

If we are to remain a free society we must defend our rights against any governmental attempt to undermine our individual rights or bypass the Constitution. The possibility of uncovering personal wrongdoings never serves as justification for the government to spy on our every move.

And camera surveillance is only the start of the Police State! Let me quickly list a few violations of our health, financial, and personal privacy. These are all facts and can be checked at my website TowneForCongress.com tomorrow and I suggest you do so. Never take anyone’s words for granted.

With the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act after 9/11, any financial transaction over $10,000 is reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a sub-branch of the Treasury Department, as possible criminal or terrorist activity. [see Section 5331 of HR 3162 - auth.]

Section 6050 of HR 3221, passed in 2008, authorizes the IRS to view every single credit card transaction made by every single individual in the United States without a warrant or informing the individual.

In 2008, Republican President George Bush signed into law HR 6304. Title 8, Section 801 of this bill gave private companies legal immunity to commit warrantless wiretapping on any phone or email communication from any American citizen. As a result, everyone is a criminal suspect without probable cause or warrant issued by a court of law.

In February 2009, Democrat President Barack Obama signed into law HR 1, otherwise known as the Obama Stimulus Plan. Sub Title A Section 3001 commits the federal government to keeping full electronic medical record of each individual by 2014 where it may be accessed from any government computer terminal of many federal departments, even including the FDIC which insures bank deposits. Do you want your private health history information on a bad heart, psychological records, medication records viewable to any government bureaucrat? This is a massive violation of patient privacy!  [Apparently this costs $20 billion per the Wall Street Journal and the Houston Chronicle. - auth.]

What we need these days is more government transparency, and revoke the violations of privacy I just mentioned! It should be obvious to each and every person here today that only a vigilant populace can demand this of their government. These cameras must come down and one day they WILL be taken down. It is only a question of which tools to use.

We here today peacefully request the government to do this with wrenches and screwdrivers.

But make no mistake, one day these cameras WILL be taken down. If today’s generation of adults do not undertake the burden of taking these cameras down, I am confident that one day, perhaps far in the future, the children who grew up under these all-seeing eyes will tire of them. And you know what tool they will use? Possibly guns if they still have them, or the sledgehammer. And I won’t blame them one bit.

As Thomas Paine once said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

September update – Video is now available!

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Jake Towne is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties. Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com and www.CampaignForLiberty.com. A master campaign presentation for internet viewing is available. A novel campaign website built by Raging Debate, TowneForCongress.com has recently opened. [Reach the Author Here!]

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As always, unlike the NFL, the author grants full permission to allow any accounts of, rebroadcasts, retransmissions, repostings of this article to your blog or anywhere else in order to promote the Restoration of our Republic.

Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

Summary of Articles and Bibliography for Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution (8/7/2009)

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