[liberationtech] And right on cue, the flush our civil liberties down the toilet boys rear their ugly heads

[Jacob Appelbaum]

Shava Nerad:
> I was fascinated today to see Mother Jones and many others reposting,
> entirely without reflection or comment, what seemed to me to be not
> "crowdsourced" images but second story surveillance camera shots of the FBI
> suspects.  (Who, in addition, are being howled after as guilty until proven
> innocent in this digital manhunt - and thank God the NYPost "exonerated"
> their suspects before that turned into something ugly...)
> 
> Well, yes, the FBI is doing their job with the tools available, and as I
> live in metro Boston I would most healthily STFU...  But if this incident
> had happened in London, I can't help but think MJ et al might have engaged
> a moment of reflection and spine in the middle of that process, perhaps?

I find it telling that the local news papers in Seattle referred to
their photos as 'potential suspects' on the front page. The use of
language is telling - it suggests that to be suspect is to be guilty. I
wouldn't be surprised if we saw people using the word potential as a
subtle replacement for suspect in the near future again and again.

I also find it striking that it looks like de facto martial law has been
imposed on parts of Boston:


http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/19/us/gallery/boston-area-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Who are all the players in this by the way? The SWAT team in those
photos looks like a full blown military unit; the vehicles look like
APC/mini-tanks. The bomb robots look like iRobot produced machines.

I haven't seen any of the radio equipment up close but I'd bet that
they're pulling out all the stops. I wonder if they'll publish the raw
logs from the Boston ShotSpotter system? I know they have it deployed
but I'm not sure if it extended to MIT's campus.

All the best,
Jacob