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Online Parody Cartoon Targeted For Prosecution
SeattleGameboy writes "It seems that the Renton (suburb of Seattle) police need a remedial course on the U.S. Constitution," linking to a story at Seattle TV station KIRO which says "The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated Internet videos. The 'South-Park'-style animations parody everything from officers having sex on duty to certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications. While the city wants to criminalize the cartoons, First Amendment rights advocates say the move is an 'extreme abuse of power.'"
"certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications"
The prosecution may have merit, wouldn't the above qualify as obscene?
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The prosecution may have merit,
how does this have merit? Are people not allowed to express their views that their local police are under-qualified?
www.RacquetUp.org - Helping Detroit Youth
And here's an unrelated but great song about her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu_zwdmz0hE
It's not the police, it's the prosecutor. The police may have agitated for this, but the prosecutor is the person who should know better.
...you civil liberties are becomeing an endangered species if you question authority, impead the operations of businesses, or criticize your elected officials. I never thought it would come to this in this country. Isn't it sad that the pent up frustration and anti-establishment from the 60's generation (the people now in power) has morphed into this?
**WHOOOOSH** :)
oh man, I can't stop laughing.
Yet another nugget I would not have known about were it not for someone out there trying to stop it!
It's going to be hard for the prosecuter to prove "intent to embarass", given that the Renton Police Department apparently has absolutely no sense of shame.
Of course, NOT !
In America, the cops is always right !! No matter what the cops did, or still doing, there are always people who will scream their heads off telling you that the cops are right !
It has nothing to do with 1st Amendment or Free Speech or Bill of Rights or the Constitution.
The Cops are above them all !
Finally, a show that is the opposite of cops. They need a tune.
Bad cops, bad cops. Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do, when they come for you? Bad cops bad cops. Whatcha gonna do,
whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do, when they come for you?
You can't handle the truth.
But these guys are:
http://volokh.com/2011/08/04/is-it-criminal-to-publish-parody-videos-that-use-lewd-language-meant-to-embarrass-and-emotionally-torment-police-officers/
Yes, the Renton (Wash.) city prosecutor’s office concludes, applying the Washington “cyberstalking” statute — an excellent example of the dangers of the broad “cyberbullying” and “harassment” statutes that I have often condemned. KIRO-TV reports:
The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated Internet videos.
The “South-Park”-style animations parody everything from officers having sex on duty to certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications.... [Last week, the prosecutor filed] a search warrant accusing an anonymous cartoon creator, going by the name of Mr. Fiddlesticks, of cyberstalking (RCW 9.61.260). The Renton Police Department and the local prosecutor got a judge to sign off as a way to uncover the name of whoever is behind the parodies.... ...
Under the prosecutor’s view, any statement — including on a blog, in a YouTube video, in a newspaper article, on television, or whatever else — is a crime if it is made “with intent to harass, ... torment, or embarrass” the subject of the person “[u]sing any lewd, lascivious, indecent, or obscene words, images, or language.” A comedian’s joke that “lewd[ly]” or “lascivious[ly]” described President Clinton’s behavior with Monica Lewinsky, or for that matter Congressman Weiner’s behavior, would be a crime if it was made “with intent to ... embarrass” the President or the Congressman. The Hustler parody attacking Jerry Falwell, which the Supreme Court held to be protected against civil liability under the “intentional infliction of emotional distress tort,” would be a crime. Indeed, in this very case, the theory is that the videos are criminal because they described alleged police sexual misconduct using “lewd” or “indecent” words with the intent to torment or embarrass particular officers. (The theory expressed in the document — a search warrant application — is that the videos sufficiently identify the particular police officers who were involved in the incidents to which the video alludes.)
If the prosecutor is right that the statute should be interpreted this broadly, then it’s clearly unconstitutionally overbroad. Speech to the public doesn’t lose its constitutional protection because it’s intended to torment or embarrass. (It may lose such protection when it’s intended to be perceived as a true threat of criminal attack, but that’s not the issue here.) Nor does lose its constitutional protection because it uses “lewd” or “indecent” terms. And while one-to-one speech said to an unwilling listener may in some circumstances be restricted — which is the reason traditional telephone harassment laws, if properly crafted, may be constitutional — this rationale can’t be used to suppress speech said to the public, even if the people discussed in the speech are tormented or embarrassed by it.
Moreover, the statute would be clearly unconstitutional as applied to this video, and the prosecutor and the judge ought to know this. (The prosecutor is Renton Chief Prosecutor Shawn Arthur; the judge on an earlier warrant was James Cayce, but I don’t know what the affidavit said there, and I don’t know the name of the judge who apparently issued the warrant based on the affidavit included with the KIRO story.) A search warrant can onl
It's never too late to educate your police force on the fine points of the Constitution.
They might even grow to appreciate it.
The judge should be removed from the bench and the prosecutor should be disbarred. This is blatant abuse of the judicial process, and both are either complicit or incompetent, and either one should warrant their removal from their respective offices.
but it will still work. Lawyers cost money and defending against a criminal complaint costs time as well. By the time the case is dismissed, the defendant is going to be bankrupt either way and it'll be a very long time before anyone thinks of criticising the police in that part of the State.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
She might have some input on this situation. Also, Mecha-Striesand might be effective at law enforcement.
The proper mindful response to such criticism would be change the policies of the police department and the behavior of its officers such that no reasonable person would even briefly consider them credible.
As it is, the only reason for them to believe that a costly criminal trial is necessary is (a) because they themselves actually find the parody critiques credible and (b) they intend to discourage further criticism by vilifying the creator of the parodies.
This is not justice or rule of law in action. This is tribalism (police department and city officials being the tribe), abuse of the law, and abuse of authority. This is actual criminal behavior perpetrated by people sworn to protect and uphold. We know what they're attempting to protect, and it's not us.
Nothing less than a bullet to his head is ever going to do.
I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine exactly how that should be done ...
Just because the founding fathers lived a couple of centuries ago, doesn't mean that people don't get equally upset now as they did in 1776.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Of course, NOT !
In America, the cops is always right !! No matter what the cops did, or still doing, there are always people who will scream their heads off telling you that the cops are right !
It has nothing to do with 1st Amendment or Free Speech or Bill of Rights or the Constitution.
The Cops are above them all !
Actually, the issue is a bit more complex, although this is certainly how many officers behave. (Others are significantly more professional, and even courteous.)
A huge problem we have is that, realistically, the prosecution gets to write the story. The vast majority of cases settle, which means that the formal record of any criminal event in this country is the prosecution's version of events. This version of events is frequently, at best, inaccurate. The function of the prosecution and of the police, on paper, is not to be a neutral arbiter but to make sure the case is strong. This is not to say that this version of events is a deliberate lie, but it nevertheless completely fails to be an accurate record of the event. So of the huge volume of data we have of criminality, most of it is incredibly biased. Only when a case actually goes to trial does the defense present a case, and there the assumption on the part of most people in the room is that the defendant is guilty.
That being said, I also know several people who have been beaten by the cops without provocation. Those cops are not professionals, and they are not just something of an ass at times. They are fucking criminals who should be sent to jail.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Streisand effect, HO!!!!
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
Isn't Seattle supposed to be "progressive"?
The evil in this is the police know there is no merit at all to the charges. The judge knows this also. They have no intention of making fools of themselves by trying to prosecute this. This is a conspiracy of the worst kind... the kind that violates the public trust in them as people who uphold the law.
They are corrupt and want to actually find out who this guy is so they can do what cops do best, make life miserable for the person. The cops, judge, and any other bureaucrat involved should all be held responsible. Unfortunately there is no one policing the police so these kinds of things go unpunished.
To me this should be a felony and these slimy cops and judges should be made an example of.
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11622514/score-parody-3
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11599075/score-parody-part-deux
Also, the username(s) used by the uploader were "MrFuddlesticks" (not fiddlesticks) and "whothehellispenny". It looks like the rest of the videos have already been deleted (couldn't find any kind of search feature on xtranormal).
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
To hell with satirizing the police, he should be sent to jail for subjecting the public to more inane xtranormal cartoons.
... I am a lawyer. Isn't there just a TINY problem with a judge in the State of WASHINGTON issuing a search warrant for premises located in the State of CALIFORNIA?
This isn't a civil subpoena - it is a SEARCH WARANT. Hello? Jurisdiction anyone?
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
Their next move will be to try to close Hooters Magazine! (or this should be the next parody movie subject)
the renton police like to pretend they are all swat officers in a robocop movie. all of their patrol cars are kitted out with external roll cages, and the officers wear full body armor at all times. i used to work in the old city hall building, and they would use the floor below us for training exercises with flash bang grenades. we'd ride the same elevator up and i'd count the number of handguns strapped to their hips and chest (always more than their number of hands). parking in a lot full of brand new cop cars with shiny new powder-coated black rims didn't make me feel safer... it made me feel like the police had their priorities in an order that did not benefit the community... this story is more of the same.
Who the hell are you and what have you done with the MichaelKristopeit### Troll?
Clearly the idiots in charge of this little corner of Soviet Russia don't clearly understand the law or the American Constitution. Bad Con Law Professors or a very lax grading curve for these Prosecutors and Judges. Just sad the state of legal education if they've let idiots like these be in charge of anything more important than dog licensing.
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
That is the distinction between civilized society and the barbarians.
The barbarians would have called for a beheading as they don't understand "freedom of speech", but we as civilized society understand "freedom of speech", and we would give you a chance to spend your life savings and the rest of your life defending it.
That's the city motto. It has it's origins in the fact that Renton is a traffic jam on I405 caused by a bottle neck called the "s" curve.
...if people, companies, and government agencies would just develop a sense of humour about themselves and stop feeling mortally threatened by every little bit of criticism.
And if the cartoons contain factual info that is embarrassing or threatening to the force or to individuals therein, then a house cleaning is in order and the investigation should be directed at the PD, not at the citizen revealing the information. But it seems that these days, government agencies are sacrosanct, and immune from criticism of any type.
Renton PD - what a bunch of whiners. Too bad they're such dangerous whiners.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
The constitution diminishes our inalienable human rights, it doesn't augment them. Its purpose is to restrict corporate (ie: microsoft) government which in reality is there to regulate commerce. If anyone needs proof that we're trained from kindergarten to behave like and even claim to be corporate entities (and therefore subject to regulation), they need to read more books. (And not the kind from Chapters either.)
Some judge signed this warrant. We have the warrant requirement just so people will be safe from abuses like this.
I seriously doubt that this warrant was EVER intended to support a criminal prosecution. All the cops want is a NAME. They are not seeking prosecution--that would obviously be ludicrous. They are using the warrant process to conduct an internal security investigation. This is a serious misuse of the warrant requirement.
Misusing warrants can mean a section 1983 lawsuit. Misleading a judge about the purpose of a warrant is big trouble. . . .
This makes me exceptionally angry.
I watched these two videos in there entirety, it is obvious that the author (if not the creator) is someone inside the department. The dialogue is a series of inside jokes that must be hilarious to someone inside the department, but only moderately funny to an outsider like me.
Freedom of speech is protected.
Parody is protected in another place.
That's two protections. The first one get's to be prosecuted as a violation of civil rights. The FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT civil right.
Here Washington is a very Blue State (Liberal Progressive Democrat for YEARS now) and this kind of abuse of power is very prevalent. Heck even our State Governor (Queen Cristine) will not disclose information under our Freedom of Information Act based on "Executive Privilege" even tho the exemptions for disclosure under the LAW does not include "Executive Privilege" as a reason to deny a request for information from the State. Yet nothing is done..... We can not trust our cops in some cases to follow the laws, we can not trust or Courts to enforce the law and we can not trust or politicians to tell us the truth. Our Rights crumble as fast as the Dollar and our Citizens just want more cake and circus. Somewhere in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range a fiddler plays......
how does this have merit? Are people not allowed to express their views that their local police are under-qualified?
It seems your sense of humor is under-qualified.
This is an isolated incident. This totally isn't happening all over the country. The police totally don't violate people's first, second, fourth and fifth amendment rights on a daily basis. There is no need to watch the watchers. They are all honorable upstanding citizens. Also, the opposite of everything I just said.
since when is "extreme abuse of power" a problem for the US? ;)
There is such a thing. Freedom of speech only goes so far.
Seems like these folks are getting lot of inspiration from Osama.
It's persecution.
The mechanism / perpetrator just happen to be called "prosecution".
That's more like it!
I'll be cowering feebly here.
I wish you the best, Michael. I hope you are happy and I hope you are kind to people around you (other than pseudonyms on the internet, that is. I don't expect you to treat those nicely. It would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath).
XOXOX
For those that are new here, Michael and his legions of numbered alts are trolls.
Nothing like Southpark in my opinion. This is cheap 3-D animation. not the paper cut up style. Of course, they probably meant the content, not the animation.\
when the local district attorney is in bed with the local police department. Prosecutors are supposed to be objective and review all cases with an impartial eye for this kind of bullshit. You would figure any judge would throw this obvious trumped up charge out but he's also in be with the PD too. Welcome to Amerika.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
http://www.wsba.org/Licensing-and-Lawyer-Conduct/Discipline/File-a-Complaint-Against-a-Lawyer
It is obvious that they believe it is someone inside airing internal affairs and abusing federal law to force out the name of the insider.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Not only can't you film police officers on duty in order to protect your rights and amass proof of misconduct (if present or needed), but now you can't make fun of police officers either?
I saw a bunch of webcomics making fun of the awkwardness of geeks, the Slashdot readership should band together for a class action.
~Syberz
Y'know, maybe you Americans should get a "freedom of speech" amendment to your Constitution. That would stop these attacks on civil liberty right quick.
It's a shame because we need an organization that is what they used to be to the first amendment: watchdogs and defenders. Only we need them in the modern day and for the entire constitution rather than just the first amendment.
What we need is a billionaire industrialist with a defense company and a strange obsession with fighting crime. A man who hides in the shadows and strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. Perhaps he could be a symbol the people could rally around, maybe some sort of winged mammal.
You know, that would be a great idea for a comic book. I wonder if anyone has trademarked "Flying-Squirrel-Man."
Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
The police feel that they've been insulted. They should expect that AND be prepared to deal with it. It's a result of being an authoritarian figure. But the prosecutor is ignorant. The prosecutor should know better. I suspect that they collectively are simply trying to frighten the cartoonist in an attempt to make a public example of him/her or because they're just a bunch of immature people who are insecure in their roles as authority figures. Either way, it's too late for them to reconsider because now they've confirmed there is something wrong in their department.
An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.
We are seeing more and more of it. Between this and the police bashing (literally at times) people using video or photo equipment on them to the satirical parodying of the organization we see what truly exists in the government sector.
Its not just this town but at all levels of the system anymore. How long until we are afraid to speak, type, or show anything due to possible "legal" retribution?
Sad sad times are upon us friends.
This prosecution provides evidence that "the bill of rights" failed to survive the Bush war on the constitution.
The constitution used to protect "Dissenters" against abusive use of the awesome powers of government
by its leaders? In this new post war world, as I understand it, a new government agency, protects the leaders?
Correct me if I am wrong?
If it is illegal to videotape a policeman during the normal performance of his duties, then it seems obvious that creating a fake videotape of fake policemen faking their duties would also be illegal.
Duh? (sarcasm)
This looks very much like the case of Falwell v. Flynt where the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment protected whatwas obviously a parody though literally it accused public figure Jerry Falwell of having sex with his mother and vice versa. Surely there is nothing in the real news there that would lead people to believe this was literally true of specific officers, I hope. Thee is also law that you can't libel a whole group of people, like "all the employees at Neiman-Marcus," Neiman-Marcus v. Lait, Texas. I forget the citation to the clearly physically impossible parody accusing Miss Wyoming of sexual exploits found clearly impossible, and held not sufficiently linked to that year's real Miss Wyoming. See also the very recent case against Phelps and Westboro Church allowing the fools to picket a funeral of a straight soldier with signs saying things like "God hates fags" susceptible of being understood as falsely and maybe that one, accusing the dead soldier. Personally, I thought the Supreme Court should have changed course and allowed the Falwell suit, given the arguable malice and outragousness, etc., and the tendency of such an obscene dragging of his mother into it that might chill vigorous debate on issues, but even his lawyers said they knew it was an uphill battle on appeal to the Supreme Court and wee not surprised by the outcome. If "embarrassing" someone can be a crime, news reporters and editorial satirists are all in danger. I'm a retired lawyer and a judge here actually issued an ex parte temporary restraining order, without notice, barring my client from telling her employer's board of directors, or anyone else, what she said she had heard about her boss. We won. We also made some law and got her unemployment compensation, but not reinstatement or damages, on a whistle-blower theory though she did not have, nor claim to have, actual personal knowledge of most of the data she had already relayed to the chair of the board, who happened to also be a public officer. But it's a classic case of "You may beat the rap, but not the ride to jail," and abuses of authority are all too common. Photographing a uniformed officer making a stop and arrest in plain view on a public street is protected, too, but I got into an argument and sticky situation with a top federal judge, thinking I was talking to some building guard on the intercom, about just bringing a tape recorder into a federal courthouse because I had no place to leave it, in the days before cell phones with cameras and voice recorders, etc. I said I had never known an honest person afraid of a tape recorder. .