For me, it was just an ordinary Sunday: After walking out of my residence within full view of surveillance cameras, driving through traffic intersections with monitoring cameras mounted high on traffic posts, enjoying casual dining at my local Taco Bell under the watchful eyes of multiple security cameras, making a quick stop at the shopping mall to return something (with cameras no doubt everywhere), and taking a long drive to the nearest casino, where cameras are as plentiful and obvious as acne on a teenager, I sat down at a slot machine to see a woman at the machine at least six feet away from me using her cell phone camera to record a large jackpot she just won.
And suddenly it dawned on me: Wow, cameras are EVERYWHERE!
And, those countless cameras can collect copious content on me wherever I go, to be tagged, stored, cataloged, dissected, aggregated and trended, most of the time without my permission and many times without even my even knowing, to be potentially used at some later date for some as yet unknown purpose. (Note this isn’t paranoia, but rather how data works in the Information Age.)
But ii seems stuff like this doesn’t happen at United States Border Detention Centers along the US-Mexican Border…at least not inside any of the allegedly overcrowded border detention facilities made possible in large part by (p)Resident Joe Biden*s promise to open America’s borders.
Check out the official policy of the U.S. Department of Justice:
“Media representatives must obtain advance permission from the OIC and District Director before taking photographs in or of an SPC.
News organizations interested in INS detainee issues shall abide by the policies and procedures of the facility being visited or toured.
The OIC shall advise both media representatives and detainees that use of any detainee’s name, identifiable photo, or recorded voices requires his/her prior permission. Media representatives shall obtain a signed release from the detainee before photographing or recording his/her voice. The facility shall retain the signed release(s) in the detainee’s A-file.
Detainees have the right not to be photographed (still, movie, or video), and not to have their voices recorded by the media. If the presence of video, film, or audio equipment or personnel would likely cause a disruption within the facility, the District Director may limit or prohibit such equipment or personnel. For example, the District Director might limit the equipment to hand-held cameras or recorders.”
Source: “INS DETENTION STANDARD”, U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service, September 20, 2000 (PDF link).
Why, it’s almost as if when it comes to personal privacy illegal aliens – at least in this situation – have more rights than Citizens. And that makes for a bad picture.
Thanks for Reading! (And, a tip of the ol’ Red Sox cap to Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security Reporter for the Washington Examiner, for her March 16, 2021 article which inspired this posting.)
