Ann Arbor, MI – With a large voting majority, the Michigan Student Assembly passed a resolution in support of the Ann Arbor Freedom From Surveillance Ordinance. The first ordinance of its kind in the country, the Ann Arbor Freedom From Surveillance Ordinance will restrict surveillance to the temporary monitoring of high-crime areas. MSA, representing over 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Michigan, called on the City Council to pass the ordinance in order to prevent the intrusive police surveillance that many cities around Michigan and the rest of the country have already implemented. While MSA commended Ann Arbor’s ongoing prevention of intrusive surveillance, the body believes that a preventative ordinance is necessary to preserve freedom in the city. The group’s next step is to meet with Ann Arbor City Council members.
I guess it's good Students Against Surveillance is attempting to prevent surveillance camera instillation before anyone in City Counsel has discussed it?
I don't it's a bad idea to get things together before something is formally proposed here. This way the group won't be merely reacting to the (still hypothetical) proposal.
ReplyDeleteI found this 'high-crime' restriction alarming:
"The proposed ordinance calls for a ban on police surveillance cameras in outdoor parks and residential areas, and would restrict the use of cameras to "high-crime" areas of the city"
Translation:
"We're against State surveillance, but not for the areas the State deems dangerous."
That seems like a major and troublesome capitulation for a group concerned with the state power.