Oddly, here in the land of the free, if this kind of thing were to be caught on video then those with the camera could be charged with "wiretapping". Who will guard the guards, indeed.
Police across the country are using decades-old wiretapping statutes that did not anticipate iPhones or Droids, combined with broadly written laws against obstructing or interfering with law enforcement, to arrest people who point microphones or video cameras at them.
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In addition to arresting citizens with cameras for wiretapping, police can use vaguer catch-all charges, such as interfering with a police officer, refusing to obey a lawful order, or obstructing an arrest or police action. Such arrests are far more common. Even more frequent are incidents where police don’t make arrests but illegally confiscate cameras, delete photos and videos, or incorrectly warn camera-wielding citizens that they aren’t allowed to film.
One of the most disturbing examples of illegal confiscation came shortly after a recorded citizen-police encounter that shocked the country. On New Year’s Day 2009, in front of a large crowd, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed 21-year-old Oscar Grant at point-blank range as Grant lay on his stomach in an Oakland subway station. Dozens of commuters captured the incident on their cell phones. Within hours, the first mass-recorded police killing of a U.S. citizen was posted all over the Internet. But immediately after the incident BART police attempted to confiscate the phones of subway riders, in at least one case chasing a cell phone owner onto a subway car. In most jurisdictions, including California, police aren’t permitted to confiscate a phone unless the phone itself was used in a crime. At best they can get the owner’s contact information in case they later need to subpoena photos or videos as evidence.
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So in review, the cops can record anything they please a'la "COPS" the tv show, or riot squads with cameras on their helmets. Fed's can actually wiretap people without any kind of warrant. But if you and I are witnessing a crime or any other public incident in which a cop is involved, and we decide to ensure accountability on the part of the public official (doing business in public) then we can be charged with a class 1 felony wiretapping crime.
Believe me, having to pay triple tuition for a state sponsored brainwashing is the absolute least of these peoples' problems.
Maybe they're really rioting because they made a poor decision - spending tens of thousands of dollars/euros/pounds on an increasingly worthless/irrelevant "education". Maybe they've discovered all the borrowed tuition is merely the first step on the road to a life of perpetual debt to the system.
Employers and career experts see a growing problem in American society — an abundance of college graduates, many burdened with tuition-loan debt, heading into the work world with a degree that doesn't mean much anymore.
The problem isn't just a soft job market — it's an oversupply of graduates. In 1973, a bachelor's degree was more of a rarity, since just 47% of high school graduates went on to college. By October 2008, that number had risen to nearly 70%. For many Americans today, a trip through college is considered as much of a birthright as a driver's license.
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What's not watered down is the tab. The cost of average tuition rose 6.5% this fall, and a report released on Dec. 1 by the Project on Student Debt showed that the IOU is getting bigger. Two-thirds of all students now leave college with outstanding loans; the average amount of debt rose to ,200 in 2008. In the last academic year, the total amount loaned to students increased about 18% from the previous year, to billion, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for recent grads rose as well. It is now 10.6%, a record high.
The devaluation of a college degree is no secret on campus. An annual survey by the Higher Education Research Institute has long asked freshmen what they think their highest academic degree will be. In 1972, 38% of respondents said a bachelor's degree, but in 2008 only 22% answered the same. The number of freshmen planning to get a master's degree rose from 31% in 1972 to 42% in 2008. Says John Pryor, the institute's director: "Years ago, the bachelor's degree was the key to getting better jobs. Now you really need more than that.
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possibly related:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0 ... 06,00.html