The ones who, having had their political inclinations revealed to adversarial law enforcement, then become subject to harassment for those views which should have been private.
> If I'm on surveillance footage near a crime scene, police have the right to look for me and question me.
The question is whether they should have the right to seize the surveillance footage by force if the proprietors would rather protect the privacy of their users. The third party doctrine is wrongful.
And given that it exists, so is keeping records like this that can then be seized using it.
> The burden of proof will still be on the investigators and prosecution to find out and show beyond a shadow of a doubt who performed the swatting.
This is assuming they're trying to prosecute a particular crime rather than using a crime as a pretext to get a list of names.
And it's about the principle, not the particular case. Suppose a protester commits a crime and now they want a list of all the protesters. Any possibility for harm there?
> The question is whether they should have the right to seize the surveillance footage by force if the proprietors would rather protect the privacy of their users.
If there was a crime committed outside your home and you have surveillance footage that has captured passers by, you would not offer it to the police because you would rather protect the privacy of the all the anonymous passers by when one of them is likely the culprit?
That strikes me as highly unlikely. And if you wouldn’t, I am willing to bet that most people would. Why care about the privacy of anonymous passers by when you can help catch the perpetrator and increase safety around your home?
>Why care about the privacy of anonymous passers by when you can help catch the perpetrator and increase safety around your home?
well if we're resorting to hyperbole comparing a murder to "watching a youtube video": say you knew and had multiple whistleblowers pass by in your footage, and they are all wanted by the government. You turning over the footage puts those whistleblowers in danger, who's only "crime" is revealing government corruption. Is catching one crook worth endangering multiple good people?
> If there was a crime committed outside your home and you have surveillance footage that has captured passers by, you would not offer it to the police?
These are not the same. You might think the difference is subtle, but I'll tell you that that subtly matters. And matters a lot.
In one case the homeowner has surveillance footage and freely offers it to the police because they want to assist the investigation. In the other case the police seize the footage by force even though the homeowner is totally innocent and might not trust the government with a record of all of their own comings and goings and associates etc.
Just confirming that this too is the distinction I see. I'll expand since there is so much confusion around this:
The difference is how information was gathered.
People volunteering information to an authority? Perfectly fine (especially in cases when information was not requested).
People being compelled to provide information? Needs friction (checks and balances).
People being compelled to provide information about others who then unknowningly being investigated? Needs even more friction.
It's also important to note that in the hypothetical that random passerbyers are not being investigated either. A specific type of behavior is being sought. Either the explicit act of the crime being committed or a STRONG correlation with another piece of evidence (such as already knowing what the criminal looks like and trying to find a better view). Random people are not considered suspect.
In the article's case all viewers were considered suspect.
The ones who, having had their political inclinations revealed to adversarial law enforcement, then become subject to harassment for those views which should have been private.
> If I'm on surveillance footage near a crime scene, police have the right to look for me and question me.
The question is whether they should have the right to seize the surveillance footage by force if the proprietors would rather protect the privacy of their users. The third party doctrine is wrongful.
And given that it exists, so is keeping records like this that can then be seized using it.
> The burden of proof will still be on the investigators and prosecution to find out and show beyond a shadow of a doubt who performed the swatting.
This is assuming they're trying to prosecute a particular crime rather than using a crime as a pretext to get a list of names.
And it's about the principle, not the particular case. Suppose a protester commits a crime and now they want a list of all the protesters. Any possibility for harm there?