August 27, 2023		INDEX
US church sues spooks over intrusive surveillance
There is a widespread belief even amongst those aware of Edward Snowden's revelations about intrusive state surveillance, that it's not like that in the UK. And, of course, it isn't. In America citizens have some protection. In the UK we have no protection. The latest example of this comes in reports that a church in California is suing local government (Santa Clara County) over what it describes as invasive and warrantless geofencing. Geofencing is a way to create an area in which there is an alert every time a mobile phone enters (or leaves) it. I don't know if this includes a burner phone, but it is a pretty good reason not to carry a smart phone (unless you need one for your business or family). It is a bit like tagging, the electronic monitoring of remand prisoners. The background to this latest legal action is that the San Jose (California) Calvary Chapel was fined $1.2m for holding services during a covid lockdown. The legal action filed by Advocates for Faith & Freedom names SafeGraph, a company based in Colorado that it alleges supplied Geofencing technology. However a report in Fox News Digital quotes SafeGraph Senior Vice President of Operations Nicole Berger as saying the company "was not engaged by Santa Clara County, or any other governmental entity, to provide targeted geofencing or geolocation tracking services for law enforcement or regulatory enforcement purposes, nor do we provide such information through our data services." The nub of the action is that the alleged surveillance would have been unconstitutional since the local authority, the county, had no warrant and so the Fourth Amendment rights of the chuch goers would have been violated. It also alleges a First Amendment violation, arguing the "geofencing operation was not neutral and generally applicable because not all businesses and entities were subject to surveillance." In Britain we have what is described as an "unwritten constitution"; in other words we don't have a constitution. No similar action would be possible here. Hence the truth of the contention that "it is different here". I have no idea how Geofencing works but it would be interesting to discover if the technology is similar or related to whatever it is that is causing the Havana Syndrome, an illness that has struck down many American diplomats and spies. See Fox News report at https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-church-fined-1-2m-lockdowns-sues-govt-spying-operation-tracking-worshippers Published August 22, 2023.
INDEX Jonathan Brind	August 27, 2023