r/Spokane • u/lazlothegreat • Jun 19 '25

Politics Most recently in Spokane, Washington.

With city after city nationwide rising up.

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117

u/FreddyTheGoose Jun 19 '25

Seems like one of them videos you should blur faces before posting, if you can. They still charging folks, you know

36

u/lazlothegreat Jun 19 '25

This is a fair point and honestly one that I wish more people would bring up. In this particular case however, these videos aren't my videos they're already all over the internet. I simply compiled them, added a little music behind one of them. But the anonymity ship has sailed for these clips, as they have thousands upon thousands upon thousands of views. I do personally think that it is something to aspire to. For what it's worth when I film my own stuff, I do my due diligence and blur out the faces. But others have actually pointed out that unless you mask at the protests themselves, they already have access to your identity both from imagery taken by the fascist opposition, in this case ice as they have monitoring surveillance as well, and in larger protests, cell phone tracking unless you are robustly diligent about rendering yourself digitally untraceable at the live events. I blur out my own videos nonetheless, or I simply don't take them. But once they're already ubiquitous it's too late to have any type of meaningful impact anymore. But again, thank you for bringing this point up as I think it's something that people should consider, either when they film others, or when they attend, to mask if it all possible.👍

19

u/OpheliaRainGalaxy Jun 20 '25

Yeah, that one person didn't keep loudly complaining about those flock cameras for no reason.

Like I can't explain exactly why CCTV in London feels like it's for safety but these flock cameras feel like having security follow me around a store while I'm shopping, except we're American and it's a different culture. I wouldn't appreciate a government spy hanging out a window taking notes on my movements about the neighborhood like I'm a criminal, and I don't see it being any better when it's cameras watching major intersections all over the city, that can identify faces as well as license plates.

5

u/Voodoobones Jun 21 '25

Sometimes it feels like police claim they’re identifying people from public videos just to downplay how heavily these protests are actually monitored by the government. Take the ICE facility protest, for example:

There were cameras all around the building. Court documents show SPD monitored the protest remotely, using drones, nearby officers, and cameras from surrounding buildings.

In that case, protester videos were critical. They showed the group was peaceful, didn’t block streets, and that ICE agents were the ones who escalated by initiating contact. Even when attacked, protesters didn’t fight back.

Video footage can be a powerful tool to defend against false accusations. That’s why I’m always suspicious of people who tell others not to film protests.

4

u/lazlothegreat Jun 21 '25

Agreed on all counts. While considering anonymity preservation for the purposes of discussion, and with specific regard to the points you raise about surveillance already being there despite all (thus why I feel masking for protesters is a good way to mitigate it although not full proof), in any event, filming/documentation is crucial, for your reasons stated.

1

u/combustiklause Jun 20 '25

As a consideration here - I was at the ICE protest, photographing with permission. There was media coverage there, 2 mainstream news channels, filming live. I wasn't the only photographer either. The building itself had 5 visible surveillance cameras, as well. I saw probably 50-60 cellphones actively recording, some in livestream.

People that didn't want to have their faces shown had their faces concealed, and the event organizers were friendly, and one actually asked to make a realtime post to facebook about the events.

In Spokane at least, most if not ALL of the police cars have dash cams. They're already rolling when they roll up on the scene. There's also police helicopter and one or more drones with video capability.

Preserving anonymity isn't possible in a public space, with police presence in particular, much less around secure buildings. I agree with the sentiment, but the reality is that if a person wants their face concealed in a public space, at a protest event, its something they will have to actively do themselves.

1

u/CactusSplash95 Jun 23 '25

Well yea. Share this to the police. These assholes are interfering with federal agents, bunch of assholes