First, MOST public employees are entirely ignorant of the law. It's basic freedom of the press & you have ZERO right to privacy in public spaces. Cops especially , given their ego, control & violence pathology, THINK they know the law.
If you're not familiar with 1st amendment auditors, here is a few links to get an idea what they do:
1st Amendment auditors are people who film in public to test the government's fidelity to law. They are part of a political movement that advocates for 1st Amendment rights, which include the right to record public officials & employees on public property.
How they operate 1st Amendment auditors typically enter public property, film, & ask questions without identifying themselves.
What they're testing for They are testing to see if public officials will respect their First Amendment rights.
ACLU advice on what to do: If a govt employee encounters an auditor, you can try to have commonly requested documents ready to limit the time of the encounter. You can also refer the auditor to a FOIA officer to request records.
The U. S. Supreme Court has recognized a "paramount public interest in a free flow of information to the people concerning public officials." Other federal courts have found that the 1st Amendment freedoms of the press & speech protect the right to film in public spaces with one stating "A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment."
My 2¢: EVERYONE should know their rights. Period. Most people's interaction with LEOs is traffic stops. PLEASE print this guide for what to do if you are pulled over. It's essential.
I do believe in the first amendment I do believe in the Constitution and it was written in a day and time and period when we didn't have TV when we didn't have cell phones and computers and a way to communicate within seconds from one Coast to the next Coast from country to country
And we didn't have this type of social media that we have today where there's so much propaganda and just garbage out there I think most people are brainwashed anyway it's because of social media
And with all the above there has been so many loopholes But I still believe in the first amendment second amendment I mean I believe in the Constitution And from the first day to this day Time has changed people have changed everything has changed
And we definitely have to leave it the way that it is because there's too many manipulators out there that would change it for their party or for greed for something evil so we just have to believe in it and hope that it works when we need it
1
0 Reply
Most Helpful Opinions
Anonymous
(30-35)
1 y
Its a little of both. But mostly provoking. People who record police interaction at their houses, or during a traffic stop, or random encounter, normally are just trying to go about their day.
The people who set up outside a government building to take pictures, although aren't breaking any laws, they are however exhibiting suspicious behavior in hopes of triggering a police interaction with an ignorant cop.
I have literally had one of these chuckle heads get involved with an incident that I, a private security officer, on private property, was handling, because they didn't know that the big box stores are in fact private property, with public access, and because they are private property, your first amendment rights do not have to be respected there. The auditor by the way took off when the police arrived, because they escalated the situation and I wanted them trespassed.
If the store management doesn't want you protesting, recording, or petitioning on the property, they can ask you to leave. As the law is implemented, your first amendment right, does not trump their fourth amendment right.
They just sound like attention seekers. The police and other authorities are already audited to death without these self appointed auditors sticking their nose in just to get facebook likes.
Further more filming them could be considered an act of terrorism as it is often used to identify and mark targets as well as test out security measures.
You may not have a right to privacy walking through a park but you do have the right not to be harassed or obstucted from going about your business by a timewasting smug little shit.
Neither. They're exercising their first amendment rights and producing records of criminal behavior by cops in public spaces. As the hashtag goes
"It's the talking about it that's the problem," Jimmy Dore said sarcastically, in regards to wrongdoing.
Not anyone's problem if the cops don't like it, except the cops. Cops don't want records of their criminal behavior? THEN DON'T ABUSE YOUR POWER. It's that simple.
I've actually represented a couple of "auditors" on trespassing/failure to ID/obstruction charges. We have a very popular auditor here where I live who is a very rude troll, but what he does is legal. To answer your question, it depends. A lot of them are just trolls. Others are legitimate bloggers. I think most of the auditors are trolls who do it for the youtube likes and revenue. The difference in a troll and a journalist (in my opinion) is that a journalist will usually tell you what he's doing and ask if he can photograph you even though he doesn't have to legally. A troll doesn't inform you or ask because he want's the confrontation, not the photo.
The one I've represented often is a troll who likes to stay within the boundaries of the law, but provoke people and get the cops called on him. He knows exactly how to push buttons and so far, in all the trespassing and failure to ID charges, he has been acquitted except for one. And that one was because he mistakenly thought the property line was in a different place so he actually was trespassing when he refused to leave.
North Carolina defines "journalist" by statute and literally anyone who takes a photograph in NC is a "journalist". NC statute says, "any person who is engaged in the business of gathering, compiling, writing, editing, photographing, recording, or processing information for dissemination via any news medium" is a journalist.
"Any news medium" is defined under NC Statute as "the business of publication or distribution of news via print, broadcast, or other electronic means." That last part (bold) is important because if you take a photo and post it to facebook, twitter, youtube, your own website blog, that's "journalism" in NC.
although times I don't want to be recorded, so there's some balance.
for police especially, I think that should be recodable all times. However, you know it can be easily used to incide society and that can be counter productive.
Ditto for war... open recording.
the challenge is the truth... it can be skewed, goal is to have the truth. We are at risk of that with ai generation and editing of videos. All videos should have stamp of time/date/editing... is it authentic, etc.. so people know what they are watching.
We have body cameras on police now. If somebody tried to follow me around I would sue them for stalking me. Perhaps somebody should post the addresses of these "auditors" and see how they like it. Furthermore, police aren't power hungry, they know that if they make a mistake even if it is a very stressful situation they will become pariahs. The state will be forced to shell out buckloads of money that could be used for other purposes.
You want to bring up Ben Franklin's quote but ask yourself this, in Ben Franklin's time what percentage of people were allowed to vote, how often did police interfere in domestic violence situations? Back then the police were around to protect those with political influence, whatever snide cynicism the left can throw out the police are doing endless work to protect everyone today. Heck the NAACP begged for more police presence in their communities.
YouTubers who want to film in public behaviour it a public event, for record of something happening, or a site of interest that's fine.
But when the recording clearly changes to one where they are clearly doing it to get a response from an individual or group is annoying.
Saying that these videos would stop if people would stop responding to the YouTubers by sending in security or the police. So basically leave them to it the video will be boring and noone will watch it!
Recording and publishing bad behaviour is valid, recording people doing their jobs and publishing it in a way that endangers them is not. This guy is the sort to do the latter.
30 months in prison for threatening election workers
The amendment shalt not be infringed... even when we don't like it.
I'm looking at g@g admin right now... not even told why my account was frozen. My ideas might sound harsh to your baby ears, but that's why I used baby dicks.
Frauditors are damned idiots and drama queens. Usually they are the complementing side to Sovereign Citizens, sometimes they both exists in the same person. Fortunately the courts are wising up to the circus acts of these assclowns.
12.2K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Whether it's Cops or Swamp dwelling Democrat politicians, ya gotta call them out. But you better be right. These Sovereign Citizens most often are not.
It's a constitutional right. Wether they're doing it to provoke or not doesn't matter. Its still exercising a right to film in public. And sometimes there's police who go on power trips and act like tyrants so you should film them
I think they are attention seeking idiots that need their moment in the headlines or YouTube time. Plus 💰 come in handy with the chance of a nice lawsuit.
Home > Society & Politics > Polls > What's ur opinion of 1st amendment auditors or people who record out of control police? Are they trolls or journalists performing a community service?
Girl's Behavior 
Guy's Behavior 
Flirting 
Dating 
Relationships 
Fashion & Beauty 
Health & Fitness 
Marriage & Weddings 
Shopping & Gifts 
Technology & Internet 
Break Up & Divorce 
Education & Career 
Entertainment & Arts 
Family & Friends 
Food & Beverage 
Hobbies & Leisure 
Other 
Religion & Spirituality 
Society & Politics 
Sports 
Travel 
Trending & News 
