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Reasonable search

2001-08-15 14:43:29+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Debra has been reporting on the recent bust of the Til Eulenspeigel Society gathering in New Jersey, a BDSMNLOP group that cleared things with local authorities, rented a conference center, and then had some overzealous state troopers videotape[Wiki] and bust because even though no alcohol was being served at the event, the conference center had a liquor license and thus events fell under the liquor license rules. Now, via Edgecase, the California Supreme Court says schools may search students without reasonable cause. So we're acclimating the kids to having no right to privacy, and, much in the way that Burning Man is getting more and more police control and interference, we're getting adults used to the paranoia that illegality is a broad region with ill-defined borders, and the only way to avoid it is to conform and obey, always.

[ related topics: Burning Man Children and growing up Privacy Sexual Culture ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:32:30+00 by: Larry Burton

On the same site there was an article saying that not everything had been cleared with local authorities a head of time.

#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:32:30+00 by: Dan Lyke

Yeah, I ran into that later. But though the specific example seemed to be a fairly obvious "you should talk to this guy", I wonder how far that goes. If you clear the event with the people from whom you're leasing the space, is it also your responsibility to talk to the people who give them licenses? If so, would it be my responsibility as an attendee to call all the appropriate authorities and make sure that the various people up the chain have cleared it? I'm envisioning a couple of hundred attendees calling state, local, and federal authories asking if this is okay, and you know that after call #5 someone's going to start saying "Not if I get any more calls, it's not okay." If you keep asking, someone's going to say "no", and whether or not they've got the legal authority to do so, the law is in such bad shape that eventually they will find some rookie cop with a gun willing to at least make trouble.

It also bothers me that the attendees were videotaped without their consent for evidence "to protect them from having to testify". It should be safe, because <sarcasm>we all know that confidential evidence in police custody never gets leaked or used for personal purposes.</sarcasm>