POT PROTESTERS WANT TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

A year or so ago, writing about the proliferation of security video
cameras in our society, I wrote that you should live your life as if
were being videotaped - if you don't want to see it on the 10 o'clock
news, then don't do it.

Since then more video cameras have been installed hourly at traffic
intersections, in public parks, along busy sidewalks and overlooking
parking lots. They record images of people speeding on residential
streets, avoiding paying the fees on toll roads, robbing people at
ATM machines, assaulting homeless people sleeping on sidewalks,
dealing drugs in alleyways, assaulting coeds on campuses, being
stopped by state troopers on lonely stretches of highway.

"Dateline NBC" has recently been airing a fascinating series of
stories about on-line predators keeping their dates with adolescent
girls, plying them with promises of booze, drugs and sex - all
captured on videotape.

And now three University of Colorado students have sued the school
for taking their pictures at a pro-marijuana rally on a portion of
the campus that was posted as off-limits for the demonstration. They
don't like the fact that their photos were distributed on a Web site
that displayed 150 protesters, offering $50 rewards for their identifications.

People attending the rally passed signs that warned them they were
trespassing and that police would be taking pictures of violators.
Some demonstrators even posed for the police photographers working the site.

And then, a few weeks later, surprise!

Up pops a link to the police photo lineup on the popular Web site,
facebook.com, directing viewers to the suspects' pictures and details
of the rewards. And that, of course, is followed by the predictable
press conference and threats of lawsuits.

Here's the irony: Three women and their defense attorney show up at a
press conference last week to have their pictures taken and published
in the newspapers.

Yes, they are looking for even more publicity, even more exposure,
even wider distribution of their activities and their photos - all
the time claiming that their reputations are being damaged by their
participation in the demonstration.

Relatively few people would ever visit the website to see pictures of
the demonstrators, of course. But hundreds of thousands of people
would see coverage of the press conference on TV and in the newspapers.

You have to ask: Are these people trying to avoid publicity, or are
they seeking it?

Their attorney, of course, ignoring the obvious evidence to the
contrary, says his clients are just innocent citizens who want to
live normal, discreet, law-abiding lives and whose reputations have
unnecessarily been sullied by the nasty police. The police "knew
there were innocent people being photographed" inside the posted
no-trespassing area, he said.

Only a lawyer could argue that someone who is trespassing isn't trespassing.

The cops decided to take the novel approach to discourage the annual
pro-pot rally rather than send a bunch of officers into the crowd of
3,000 demonstrators to make arrests, a tactic that most likely would
have ended with police dragging off handcuffed suspects and risking a
full-blown riot.

What some might find disturbing is the fact that anyone would attend
such a rally, arguing that it is a public protest in a public setting
and protected by First Amendment rights of free expression, and then
complain that it is embarrassing or humiliating or damaging to their
reputation to be identified with the cause.

You might think that if a woman is so concerned about an issue, so
dedicated to making a statement, so intent on supporting a political
movement, that she wouldn't want to remain anonymous.

But if that is the case, she should stay home. Certainly she should
not attend a public rally where news coverage is guaranteed,
knowingly and willingly cross into a clearly marked no-trespassing
area, and mill around in a crowd where people are openly smoking dope
and challenging police to arrest them.

And if you believe that strongly in the cause, you shouldn't complain
to be identified with it. Be proud, stand up, and have your picture taken.