Posts Tagged environmentalism

Get that camera out of my face!

Recent use of security cameras are preventing citizens from moving about the country without being recorded. This is a problem.

By Adam Lederer | Indiana University
Original Version for IDS

Here in America, land of the free, without much notice, our privacy has slowly been eroding. It has come to my attention over the past two weeks with one national story regarding security at the Super Bowl, and one supposed major criminal break right in my home town: the arrest of a man accused of being a member of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Both of these incidents have upset me enough to encourage me to do my best to look suspicious to anyone watching me.

Let’s just say I do not always trust my government to do the right thing and I have become immensely annoyed with the number of cameras that are out and about photographing me as I go about my personal daily business.

The most recent visible security incident was at the Super Bowl in Tampa, where every person entering the stadium had their photograph taken and the pictures run through a police database to look for terrorists and criminals in attendance. The recent acknowledgement of this security measure concerns me because you as a citizen in this country should be free to move about without your whereabouts being continually recorded

However, it was gratifying, despite the happy face that was put on the system by officials, that it was a total failure. Out of the 71,000 people in attendance, there was only one person identified: a ticket scalper, who managed to flee into the crowds and avoid capture. You cannot tell me that out of the 71,000 people in the stadium that there were actually only two criminals – the aforementioned ticket scalper and the Raven’s Ray Lewis. They had to miss a number of other convicted crooks who, having served their time, are otherwise decent citizens who have a right to move about the country in an unfettered fashion.

There is no way, however, that I can make myself look suspicious at a Super Bowl. I have no interest in attending the Super Bowl, so I have had to make myself look suspicious at home in Monroe County, Indiana, home of Indiana University. I achieved my suspect status within the community by going to Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse and purchasing 10-inch Grip-Rite spiral shank nails. I used my credit card and did it within full sight of the video cameras that track every purchase and every purchaser. Should the FBI need to determine who’s been buying the nails, they have me on record.

Why does this make me a suspect?

It makes me a suspect because our state and national governments have taken to watching purchases at Lowe’s and photographing license plates to determine who might have been out spiking trees in an area of the Morgan-Monroe State Forest where timber sales are conducted. The circumstantial evidence these efforts turned up was good enough to arrest Frank Ambrose, a local environmental activist and accuse him of being a member of ELF.

Out of immense curiosity, I went to the Monroe County Justice Center and sat in on Ambrose’s arraignment. There was no discussion of the evidence at this juncture, so all I saw was a nervous 26-year-old man sitting behind the defendant’s table. He was there because of a security camera at Lowe’s, a photograph of his car parked near a timber sale and investigators with active imaginations. If convicted of this Class D Felony under Indiana state law, he could end up with three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

So my purchase of the 10-inch Grip Rite spiral shank nails is not enough to make me the total suspect. To achieve that goal, in future weekends, homework permitting, I might start hanging out in the state forests, allowing forest rangers to photograph my license plate, documenting that my car was seen in the forest — a car owned by the same person who once, on a shopping trip to Lowe’s, bought 10-inch Grip-Rite spiral shank nails.

I have never spiked a tree, nor do I have any immediate or long-term plans to do so. I have no idea whether Ambrose actually spiked the trees — but I doubt it. ELF members do not leave their cars parked near the sites of environmental actions. If they did, the 1998 ELF action at the Vail Resorts in Colorado would have been solved long ago.

What upsets me about this case is the invasion of privacy. Cameras are everywhere, and your movements and purchases are being recorded. Ultimately too much information is being collected about people and it is not always being used in ethical ways.

It’s like when you register with an e-mail list for information you are interested in, and then your e-mail address gets sold. You start receiving e-mails inviting you to view “teenage sex stars,” or worse. You can at least ignore the spam with effective filters, but when people start taking photographs and using them against you, the photographs do not exist in a context — it is only a still image of a moment in time, devoid of meaning. Were you buying the package of condoms for yourself or for somebody too nervous to buy them? Were you visiting the adult bookstore at 3 AM because you wanted to buy some pornographic videos or because you got a flat tire a block away and wanted to use their telephone? And what if you were buying condoms or porn for yourself? Whose business is it anyway?

Still images only record the fact that you bought condoms and that you were in an adult bookstore, not your reason for being there. Some might argue you should be willing to explain why you were in a particular place if you have nothing to hide.

I disagree: The presumption should be innocence, and I shouldn’t have to explain to anybody why I have 10-inch Grip-Rite spiral shank nails. I bought them, and why I bought them is none of your business.

Adam Lederer is a graduate student in Public Affairs at Indiana University. He recently learned that 10-inch Grip Rite nails come in five pound boxes, each containing 25 nails.

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Get that camera out of my face

See an extended
Get that camera out of my face,
prepared for Student Discourse

There are times to trust our government and times not to trust our government. To be honest, I’m upset with the number of photos being taken by our government and used for investigative purposes. I’m so upset I have decided to do my best to look suspicious to anyone watching me.

To that end, yesterday I purchased 10-inch Grip-Rite spiral shank nails at Lowe’s hardware store. I used my credit card and did it within full sight of the video cameras that track every purchase and every purchaser. Should the FBI need to determine who’s been buying the nails, they have me on record.

In future weekends, homework permitting, I might start hanging out in the state forests, allowing forest rangers to photograph my license plate, documenting that my car was seen in the forest — a car owned by the same person who once, on a shopping trip to Lowe’s, bought 10-inch Grip-Rite spiral shank nails.

It seems our state and national governments have taken to watching purchases at Lowe’s and tracking license plates to determine who might have been out spiking trees in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest. The circumstantial evidence these efforts have turned up has been good enough to arrest Frank Ambrose, a local environmental activist. If convicted, he could end up with three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Out of immense curiosity, I went to the Monroe County Justice Center and sat in on Ambrose’s arraignment hearing Friday. There was no discussion of the evidence at this juncture, so all I saw was a nervous 26-year-old man sitting behind the defendant’s table. He was there because of a security camera at Lowe’s, a photograph of his car near a timber sale and investigators with active imaginations.

I have never spiked a tree, nor do I have any immediate or long-term plans to do so. I have no idea whether Ambrose actually spiked the trees — but I doubt it. Members of the Earth Liberation Front don’t leave their cars parked near the sites of ecoterrorist attacks. If they did, the ELF attack at the Vail Resorts in Colorado would have been solved long ago.

What upsets me about this case is the invasion of privacy. Cameras are everywhere, and it is not possible to buy things without being recorded. I think too much information is being collected about people and it is not always being used in ethical ways.

It’s like when you register with an e-mail list for information you are interested in, and then your e-mail address gets sold. You start receiving e-mails inviting you to view “teenage sex stars,” or worse. You can at least ignore the spam with effective filters, but when people start taking photographs and using them against you, the photographs do not exist in a context — it is only a still image of a moment in time, devoid of meaning. Were you buying the package of condoms for yourself or for somebody too nervous to buy them? Were you visiting College Books because you wanted to buy some pornographic videos or because you got a flat tire a block away and wanted to use their telephone?

Still images only record the fact that you bought condoms and that you were in College Books, not your reason for being there. Some might argue you should be willing to explain why you were in a particular place if you have nothing to hide.

I disagree: The presumption should be innocence, and I shouldn’t have to explain to anybody why I have 10-inch Grip-Rite spiral shank nails. I bought them, and why I bought them is none of your business.

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An unlikely pair of Texas presidents

AUSTIN, Texas — This city of nearly half a million straddles the Colorado River in Central Texas and is home to two distinctly different presidential flavors: Democratic and Republican. I realized this as I stepped out of The Hideout, a coffeehouse located just off Austin’s Sixth Street (akin to Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington), and waited for two motorcades to pass by.

That was my first Presidential Encounter in Austin last week: I got to watch President-elect George W. Bush speed down the street, complete with a motorcycle escort and a bonus traffic jam for unsuspecting motorists. I was merely an inconvenienced pedestrian trying to go shopping. I couldn’t attempt to keep walking for another 10 minutes while I waited for Vice President-elect Dick Cheney’s motorcade to depart the Driskill Hotel. Bush was waving out the window; Cheney appeared to be using a cell phone.

My second Presidential Encounter of the week was by choice: I visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum at the University of Texas at Austin. I also visited the Johnson Settlement located 50 miles west of Austin in the Hill Country, to see where our 36th president grew up.

I was swept away by both: taking a break in the Hill Country, I sat down and looked at the landscape that surrounded me. It was by no means a lush environment, but it was a hearty environment, one that develops character in people — Rugged American Individualism at its best — and an understanding that government serves a purpose in the life of people.

At the LBJ museum, one gains an appreciation for the former president and his momentous works. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act, the Clean Air Act and Head Start are examples of LBJ’s impressive legacy.

Although Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, it was LBJ who gave their great-great grandchildren the freedom to participate in our democracy.

Without a doubt, LBJ was a president who desired to do good for his country. He drew upon his experience growing up in poverty to become a more compassionate and decent man whose chief domestic policy goals were to eliminate poverty and raise the standard of living for all. A war he inherited — one that right wing anti-Communists wanted escalated and one that the left wing wanted finished — hampered him. It could be said Vietnam ended up costing LBJ his job.

But the basic facts remain: LBJ was a decent man. He wanted to do the right thing for the people of the United States, something that appears to stand in stark contrast to the aspirations of the latest president-elect to come from the state of Texas.

Bush was born rich, stayed rich and only as an adult realized he was interested in politics. He wants to give the rich a tax break under the assumption that since they pay the most they deserve the biggest break — there’s nothing like a regressive tax scheme that punishes the poor for being poor. Two of the most important components of life in America face reversal under Bush’s administration: civil rights and environmental protection.

First, with former Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general, protection of key civil rights, such as the right to an abortion, will fall by the wayside. I also suspect a full investigation into the voting rights abuses that occurred in Florida will never take place — something LBJ was active in trying to prevent.

Second, with Bush announcing he is interested in drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness, we have a threatened environment. Regulatory powers will be shifted to the states and the ensuing race to the bottom will be sickening

Bush’s agenda, if he can successfully carry it out, appears to be in direct opposition to the LBJ legacy.

I’m not sure, but I imagine that the people of Austin will be glad to be rid of Bush, just to get him out of their town. It’s unfortunate that we have been saddled with him instead.

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Pick up your own trash

Last Friday, I became an angry man about campus. Amazingly, I was not angry with any of my midterm exams, the papers I have to write or the readings I have to read. Instead, I was angry with one of my fellow students, who had intentionally littered the IU campus. At the time of my trek across campus, the Arboretum was in its typically beautiful state amid the falling rain, marred by nothing. Green grass and trees starting to bud accented the conversation I was having with my friend. Looking around the Arboretum, I noticed one of my fellow students coming across campus.

I kept talking to my friend, giving no thought to the young man walking toward me. He had been drinking from one of those bright red Coca-Cola cups and decided he was finished. Instead of depositing the cup at the next available garbage can, he set it on top of one of those posts by the side of the walkway. Now the unsightly and unnatural bright red cup marred the view. I was annoyed enough that I actually stopped the young man and made him pick up his trash.

I also gave him a short lecture on the inappropriateness of his actions by pointing out that there were a lot of trash cans around the campus. He seemed unmoved and I suspect he threw it down on the ground once he was out of my sight. Why was I annoyed with him so much? Because this student made an active choice to litter the grounds of IU and mar an otherwise beautiful campus. In short, his actions were intentional, deliberate and destructive.

I admit that, a couple of times, I have littered around Bloomington. The most recent case was when I reached into my mailbox and took out a stack of fliers. One of them got out of my hands just as a gust of wind swept by. The flier blew down the street and I chased after it but lost the race. It was neither intentional nor deliberate. It was destructive.

I did penance for my accidental littering by being extra conscious for the week after the accident. I picked up litter at every opportunity. In fact, the very next day, I picked up two fliers at rest beneath my mailbox. Clearly I don’t like it when I unintentionally litter, but people who intentionally litter really make me mad. This guy had a choice facing him when he finished his soda. He could either take the otherwise empty container to a trash can or leave it for somebody else to pick up. He chose the latter and sullied the view of the arboretum.

I’d like to keep the IU campus and Bloomington as beautiful as possible. If we all start picking up some of the litter we see on the ground, as well as confronting the litterbugs around us when they litter, perhaps we can make the community a better place to live and work.

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