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What Cops Understand About Copyright Filters: They Prevent Legal Speech

EFF: ““You can record all you want. I just know it can’t be posted to YouTube,” said an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy to an activist. “I am playing my music so that you can’t post on YouTube.” The tactic didn’t work—the video of his statement can in fact, as of this writing, be viewed on YouTube. But it’s still a shocking attempt to thwart activists’ First Amendment right to record the police—and a practical demonstration that cops understand what too many policymakers do not: copyright can offer an easy way to shut down lawful expression. This isn’t the first time this year this has happened. It’s not even the first time in California this year. Filming police is an invaluable tool, for basically anyone interacting with them. It can provide accountability and evidence of what occurred outside of what an officer says occurred. Given this country’s longstanding tendency to believe police officers’ word over almost anyone else’s, video of an interaction can go a long way to getting to the true..”

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