Chicago Politician Proposes Ordinance Preventing Gov’t From Using Electronic Blackouts
- Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:22am by
Liz Klimas
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CHICAGO (The Blaze/AP) — Protesters are coming by the thousands to Chicago, armed with smartphones, video cameras and social media links that will allow them to instantly map strategy, share plans and disseminate images of what’s happening.
Right as the police department and others prepare for the crowds associated with the G-8 and NATO summits to take place in the city in May, one city councilman want to make sure the lines on electronic communication remain open — although he says he has no reason to think they would actually be shut down.
We’ve seen before that authorities have recently been prone to pull the plug to electronic resources used in protests and riotous situations. In August, authorities with the San Francisco Bay Area Transit System blocked cell signals in order to help prevent protests. The government in Egypt in Jan. 2011 also stopped cell service due to violence during democratic protests.
Ald. Ricardo Munoz (Photo: WEBZ/File)
One city councilman doesn’t even want turning off communication in this way to be on the discussion table.
“We’re putting down a marker and saying, this has happened in other places and we don’t even want it considered here,” said Alderman Ricardo Munoz, who will propose his anti-crackdown ordinance at a Chicago City Council meeting Wednesday.
Munoz said he has no indication that police are contemplating shutting down cellphone use or social media sites. And aides to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Chief Garry McCarthy say the leaders have no plans to put any restrictions on social media or other communications.
But Munoz’s determination to take the tactic off the table is an acknowledgement that the front line at mass protests is increasingly technological as officials and protesters search for a balance between security and freedom of speech. It also illustrates a growing nervousness about clashes during the summits in a city that just last week agreed to pay more than $6 million to hundreds of protesters for wrongful arrests by police during a 2003 Iraq War demonstration.
“Chicago has a painful history going back to the Red Squad and 1968,” said Munoz, referring to a police intelligence unit that into the 1970s spied on everyone from anti-war activists to the PTA and to the still-vivid footage of police beating protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
In San Francisco last year, transit officials were roundly criticized after cutting off cellphones in subway stations to disrupt planning for a protest over a transit police shooting. Bay Area Rapid Transit officials defended the action as legal but later passed a policy to allow such a move only in response to extraordinary threats.
BART was the first and only government agency in the U.S. to block electronic communications as a way to quell social unrest, but its ensuing policy was also the only one of its kind, according to Linda Lye, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney.
More infamously, the Egyptian government shut down all Internet access last year after demonstrators used social media to coordinate protests and circulate images of brutality during the government crackdown. The move backfired by intensifying the protests, and the government eventually fell.
“In this day and age, social media is central to the First Amendment,” said Andy Thayer, a Chicago activist who is helping plan the NATO/G8 protests. He said the ability to take photographs and video and post them on the Internet as events unfold is crucial for organizing and to alert the public.
Munoz’s ordinance, a draft of which he gave to The Associated Press, explicitly prohibits the police from “shutting down mobile tower communications” during the summits, “using confiscated equipment to monitor or block mobile phone and Web access” and selectively blocking access to the Internet and social media sites.
McCarthy told reporters recently that police will not “do anything about the First Amendment except protect it.”
But the City Council recently gave Emanuel extraordinary powers to make decisions regarding the summits in certain circumstances. And a spokeswoman for McCarthy would not say definitively that he wouldn’t change his mind about needing to block communications in an emergency.
Blocking cellphone and Web access is both exceedingly simple and complicated — with the physical act of rendering cellphones and other hand-held electronic devices useless being as easy as flipping a switch at a base station of a cellphone tower.
Officials also could use signal jamming devices similar to ones used by the military in war zones.
The legality of such steps isn’t always clear, however.
“Under most circumstances they’re not allowed to do that, (but) if there is a riot and rioters are burning a building, we don’t know whether a temporary shutdown would be constitutional,” said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in constitutional law and cyber law.
He said things get murky if police tried, for example, to take down a Facebook page where people are exchanging ideas about politics because one person is urging others to throw a Molotov cocktail at a particular building.
But some officers say the city ought not rule out blocking communications if protests get out of hand.
“I’m just concerned about officer safety and citizen safety,” said Mike Shields, head of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police. “… If we have to take this action, if it’s within the framework of the Constitution, then we have to consider it.”
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babylonvi
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:35amMeaningless. The feds will pull the plug so Chicago will have no say in it. If the U.S. Congress passes such a law, the administration will just ignore it, just like all the other rights they have been trampling on.
Report Post »Atokaite
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:46amOpine
Report Post »Blaze article is excellent, accurate, timely.
Control of information transfer via latest technology is going to be the baseline for the Election Year, across this nation. As the OWS folks, ACORN, SEIU, etal make thier play, more and more municipalities will find the means to stifle the opposition. Media Matters vs FOX on a more grander scale. RE reading the “Masters of Deceit” circa 1954 recalls the history of such, during the early Leftist years of angst. Control then was via the Bull Conners methods.
It will become more and more critical for the US Electorate to have access to NON MSM venues to even get non biased, non tampered accurate information. One of the 3 C ‘s Command, Control and Communication.
OWS etal depends on these methods, for thier purpose. The Opposition to the Left, IE US, needs access to the air as well.
Recc.
Become technologicaly competent. Use and understand the means of Comm. That knowledge may well be vital come 2013.
Semper FI
suz
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:44pm“we don’t even want it considered” … somebody’s got it right.
Report Post »Arshloch
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 1:35pmHow dare that Munoz, if the government can not turn of communications at will, how will they ever be able to generate a true blue dictatorship?
Report Post »goahead.makemyday
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 1:33pmAm I the only one who is getting a little worried that the Commissioners hand over almost all power concerning summits in Chicago to Rahm? I believe this is a good idea but giving Rahm more power isn’t.
Report Post »followtheexample
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 1:16pmRon Paul wouldn’t aprove of this…o.k. sorry I won’t do it again ..
Report Post »omgfolks
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 12:08pmUse of this technology against citizens in the United States should not be tolerated, accepted or even within the arsenal of the paramilitary ( police). People have a Constitutional Right to be heard, if they are being ignored by those in goverment then maybe goverment needs to stop acting like the own the citizens. I fear there will be a major revolution here in America, I fear the goverment and the police for their actions and how they dismiss the Constitution. I fear America is lost if we the citizens cannot take back goverment from the greed mongers who run it now. The constitution was written to make certain we had control over goverment! Not the other way around like we see today. We live in a scary time, goverment needs to stop flexing its muscles and trying to control and contain American Citizens, they need to stop telling me how to live my life. Goverment needs to recognize when the sh– hits the fan, its the American People who will be victorious, if that means rebuilding the goverment from the ground up, we did it once before and we can do it again. Work for the people, see the disparity, understand that we want need and deserve to be free, we want jobs that pay, a home to live in, and health care we can depend on. We need to take car of our old, vetrans and allow them to live with diginity. WE NEED A GOVERMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE. We dont need threats, wasted tax money and Corperate Greed Mongers, Nuf said
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 4:52pmDon’t fear there will be a revolution, plan on it. There is no way forward without compromise and neither side is willing. The natural result of a two party system, eventually the sides become so polarized they basically become separate countries.
Report Post »Rex Whitmer
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:35pmNo we are fast becoming subjects whom the government will own. The government has purchased our freedom giving us pretty toys to play with. Once there were freemen in the United States, but they gave up their freedom to become subjects. Once this nation was a group of individuals who did what their citizens felt proper and had laws quite similar. Now we have a group of subject jurisdictions, who scamper to do what the Federal government commands them to do. Not being freemen, we pay little attention to whom governs and don’t vote, it seems that the wealthy and media decide who will get the job of governing, and then there is the Supreme Court which is no longer very supreme. Since Franklin Roosevelt tried to turn it by adding two more justices to make it nine, every president and senate has made it their objective to stack it, not with wise knowable men and women, but make it predisposed to base judgements on what the majority party wants. We now have a government who wants the power to;’ well, did you ever read 1984? That was some time ago, the author saw it coming, just couldn’t guess how fast.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:53amThese punks are a quasi terrorist gang. There are gang laws, and they don‘t fall under ’freedom of speech’. Treat them accordingly and anyone congregating within 100 feet of a violent or destructive act needs to be rounded up. Gas, horses, fire hoses, concussion grenades are all suitable for anyone breaking through a barrier. It’s common sense at this point!~
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:09amThis country is going to look like Egypt this summer.
Report Post »goahead.makemyday
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 1:28pmEgypt? How about Syria.
Report Post »Atokaite
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:49amOWS sites are full of event schedules, planning, travel methods, etc for the G Summit.
Report Post »Eqypt will look like a picnic on the Nile, vs Chi Town on the Lake.
Semper FI
COFemale
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:06amI am not in Chicago, but as someone who depends on my cell phone as my all encompassing phone, if communications were blocked and I find myself in a dire situation or under a medical need and I can’t call 911, you better believe I would file a hugh, hugh lawsuit (should I live) against the city of Chicago. They have no right to block communications of any kind. This does go against the Constitution and my rights as a citizen. They can not use the “security” argument. We are not a dictatorship yet, however, if Obama gets elected again we will be. We also must remember who the Mayor is in Chicago, our favorite fake Jew Rahm Emanuel. So tell me how does a Jew get Islamic names? Could Rahm be from the Ishmael lineage?
Report Post »oldguy49
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:21amthis is just an oppurtunity to test there sytems before they do it to the rest of the country
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:50amLawsuit? PLease! They’ve planned for that as well….It will also be a Justice Blackout!
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 4:55pmwill be hard to sue from within the camps. They have cozy cots waiting for us.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:04amLook for
Occupy Occupy Wall St, when spring comes and the cockroaches (my apology’s to real cockroaches) come out from their mommy’s warm basement. Food prep will be glitterbombed, , laptops will have sodas spilled on them, and I-phones will be squashed. I heard a rumor about this happening. Can’t wait to read about it.
OCCUPY OCCUPY WALL STREET Coming to a OWS site near you Spring 2012
Report Post »jackact
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:01amDoesn‘t Chicago already employ Black Panther ’black outs’ at every voting precinct?
Report Post »SoupSandwich
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:47amYes, Chicago needs to make things friendlier for the fringe, and let them be able to connect and trash the cesspool even more. Why, they should even just supply the OWSers and G8 haters with smart phones, three hots and a cot too. No issues in Chicago at all; no crime thingy, no corrupt pols, no families or businesses breaking land speed records to get there either. Illinois is right up at the top of the heap in states people are dying to leave-speaking of, hope they straighten out the whole Cook Co. issue with a full morgue and bodies laying around in fridge trailers-they may need more room if the euro trash funbags don’t like the fare during the peaceful protests. Stellar stewardship there people, stellar.
Report Post »ozchambers
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:47amI agree with this guy that the government has no right to be shutting down communication (aka free speech) even for security reasons, but I bet this guy wouldnt be saying boo if there was a planned Tea Party type protest planned in Chicago.
Report Post »geo01
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:45am.
Report Post »NOW THIS IS WHAT WE NEED. CHANGE we can BELIEVE IN.
.
Politicians who will stand by the people…..even people we may not agree with.
.
FREEDOM I S FREEDOM.
.
We need MORE LAWS TO ACTUALLY PROTECT THE PEOPLE.
.
It seems our “Law Makes” like to make laws to put the thumb on the citizens.
.
13th Imam
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:44amSo now Chicagoins are ticked off that Barry is outlawing electric blankets?? oh , you meant Blacklouts,,, Nevermind
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:40am.
If they burn Chicago to the ground, would anybody care?………
It’s a Nasty City, just like most of the North East States……..
Report Post »Steelhead
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:02amspanky -what a stupid thing to say
Report Post »M13
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:12amNobody outside of the Chicago city limits would care if Chicago just sank into Lake Michigan. That city is the reason Illinois is in such terrible financial trouble.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:14amI wouldn’t miss it.
If Chicago burned, we could call it liberation day. There would actually be a working Democracy in Illinois.
Illinois politics have been ruled by corrupt Chicago pols for far too long.
It would be the left burning Chicago, because that is what they do
Report Post »SoupSandwich
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:57am@ Head
Report Post »What a stupid life to lead.
hidden_lion
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:01pmThe darkside of myself would agree with your statement, luckily my good side is in charge.
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:39amChi town is Obamaland. The protesters will cost them plenty. The images will hurt both mayor Rahm, and President Obama.
Report Post »Atokaite
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:55amThe OWS G Summit event will be relatively benign, due to the location. HOWEVER, the event will be used as the Training Ground for the rest of the Election Year. Those OWS Participants in Chi Town, will be the Cadre for the OWS Election year demos across the Nation.
Report Post »Chi Town may well see some MSM demos, some activist videos, some Bull Conners scenes, but remember the goal. OWS, + ACORN + SEIU = NON election for 2012.
The LEFT is not going to go quietly into the night.
Semper FI
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:38amWatch for the admin to come crashing down in support of the Occupy bands when anything interferes with their networking; it will be claimed as a violation of their civil and constitutional rights and Holder will be used as a wolf hound to intimidate the rest of city governments into compliance.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:35amIMHO the police could take advantage of the information getting posted, getting ahead of the useful idiots and perhaps throwing some confusing or contradicting directions into the mix. Give directions to the lemmings and lead them right to the police. Capture feeds and use them to prosecute those who openly call for violence, destruction of property etc..
Embrace the technology, it could be the new strategy that wins the day.
Report Post »