The ACLU has issued a report titled “Policing Free Speech: Police Surveillance and Obstruction of First Amendment – Protected Activity” which states,
“United States law enforcement agencies, from the FBI to local police, have a long history of spying on American citizens and infiltrating or otherwise obstructing political activist groups. Political spying was rampant during the Cold War under the FBI’s COINTELPRO, the CIA’s Operation Chaos, and other program.
Unfortunately, it appears that these old tendencies have once again come to the fore. Law enforcement agencies across America continue to monitor and harass groups and individuals for doing little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.
A thorough search and review of news accounts by the ACLU reveals that these law enforcement behaviors have taken place in at least 33 states plus the District of Columbia in recent years. Americans have been put under surveillance or harassed by the police just for deciding to organize, march, protest, espouse unusual viewpoints, and engage in normal, innocuous behaviors such as writing notes or taking photographs in public.”
The report includes a “state‐by‐state compilation of examples of these behaviors in recent years.”
Student Arrested for Advertising Protest. University of Arizona Police Department’s arrested a 24‐year‐old graduate student for using sidewalk chalk to advertise a protest.
Undercover Campus and County Sheriffs Attend Cal State Fresno Lecture on Veganism. The lecturer addressed approximately 60 people about the benefits of a vegan diet. Six of those 60 attendees were undercover police officers—three from the county sheriff’s department and three from the campus police department.
Police Detain Muslim‐American Journalism Student for Taking Photos for a Class Assignment. A 24‐year old Muslim‐American journalism student at Syracuse University, was stopped by Veterans Affairs police in New York for taking photographs of flags in front of a VA building as part of a class assignment. After taking her into an office for interrogation and taking her driver’s license, the police deleted the photographs from her digital camera before releasing her.
The list includes many more examples of peaceful people being watched by “Big Brother” and a web or YouTube search will provide hundreds more.