20141215 Von wegen Waffengleichheit

Police enforcement "Body cams" - a means of producing the "informational equality of arms" between the police and citizens?

About the problems to equip the Hessian police with "Body cams" Dennis Kenji Kipker writes in the EAID-blog. He here addresses the violations of basic rights by video recording of everyday life and sees encroachments on the fundamental right to informational self-determination of filmed persons and he sees a double functionality of police video files, which can be used both for security purposes as well as for law enforcement.

The assumption of the police authorities to establish a "informational equality of arms" between the police and citizens, however, is completely wrong. First, we would engage ourselfes in a kind of "arms race" that we as a protector of privacy usually refuse on principle. In the US, we see already the second step, namely the prohibition of recording security forces.

Illinois just passed a law that would make it illegal to record police and government officials. The law, passed overwhelmingly by the Illinois House and Senate, isunconstitutional ( http://http://www.infowars.com/its-now-illegal-in-illinois-to-film-cops/ ) , and a blatant move to scare, intimidate and criminalize individuals who legally record interactions with police on their cell phones.

Filming police actions is a wholly legal and vital practice, as it empowers citizens to hold those sworn to protect them accountable when things go wrong. This bill makes taping a law enforcement official felony "eavesdropping", and gives people added prison time if they are caught doing it.

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