From Newsgroup: alt.privacy
If you live in San Clemente: Smile, youAre on Candid Camera! In this
case, itAs not the TV joke show that ran, on and off, from 1948 to 2014,
and used hidden cameras to catch people in funny situations. ItAs the
U.S. government.
The Register reported on Jan. 21 the San Clemente City Council approved
a plan to partner with U.S. Customs and Border Protection oto get a $1
million camera and sensor monitoring system up and running on a hilltop
at the Avenida Salvador Reservoir.o The vote was three council members
for, one against and one abstaining. The snooping will be operational by
the end of this month. The Feds will pay for everything.
The reason is to spy out opangao boats, which bring illegal immigrants
ashore. oWeAve had 18 panga landings on our beaches in the last year or
so,o said Mayor Pro Tem Steve Knoblock, explaining his yea vote, as KABC reported from the meeting. He said thatAs more than half the pangas
landing in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
According to Wikipedia, Pangas are between 19 and 22 feet in length and
powered by outboard motors. A typical panga, such as one intercepted off Oceanside in Jan. 2025, carries around 26 people.
oIt not only looks over our entire town, but the camera can see all the
way up to Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo,o Councilmember Mark Enmeier,
the sole nay vote, told me. He said the CBP told the Council the camera
will have ospecial blinderso to block out spying on residences.
oHowever, they can turn the blinders off at any moment if they think
there is some smuggling operation occurring. I brought up issues of
privacy numerous times at the Council meeting. My concerns were
dismissed as being paranoid.o
He sent me images showing the cameraAs line of sight would be clearly
looking right into San Clemente homes.
The problem is the perennial one in America of protective surveillance
vs. the Fourth Amendment oright of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.o ThatAs especially difficult these days when everyone wields a
cell phone taking pictures of everything. On the positive side, private
phone videos and police bodycams showed the abuses by ICE in Minnesota
that killed two American citizens.
And just as your iPhone 17 is multiples more powerful than your 2001
Motorola flip phone, thermal imaging has become much more invasive. AI
now expands detection distance and provides oa fusion analytic that
couples motion detection, neural network classification databases and
behavior analytics,o explained Matt Strautman of FLIR Security in New
Hampshire to SDM magazine, which focuses on security matters.
oIf this camera is surveilling private property, it certainly raises
Fourth Amendment concerns,o Marc Scribner, a senior analyst at the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, told me. He pointed to the 2001 U.S.
Supreme Court decision Kyllo v. United States. In the case, a federal
agent used a thermal imaging device to spy into the home of Danny Kyllo
to detect if he was using high-intensity lamps to grow marijuana.
The majority opinion was written by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
He said a search warrant is needed if othe Government uses a device that
is not in general public use, to explore details of a private home that
would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion.o
Enmeier said the CBP would not provide details of the camera that will
surveil San Clemente. Then we have to assume whatever camera they use
could violate Kyllo.
Unfortunately, Enmeier said thereAs no movement by private citizens to
contest the camera in court. A local ballot measure to overturn the
CouncilAs acquiescence in the spying potentially could be placed on the
Nov. 3 ballot. But thereAs no movement there, either.
What San Clemente needs is the Minneapolis spirit of resistance that
forced ICE to retreat from its abuses in Minnesota. The CBP should be
required to deal with the panga boats without sinking the Bill of
Rights.
John Seiler is on the editorial board of the Southern California News
Group
John Seiler is also part of the problem. He is a sanctuary city
proponent.
https://www.ocregister.com/2026/02/18/john-seiler-surveillance-state-inva des-san-clemente/
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