We won't except if we do

Slippery slope at its best. From the Sun-Sentinel (FL) for January 10.

Boca Raton - Will Big Brother take a seat in the classroom of a new middle school?

Administrators say two cameras in each of the school's classrooms will record the instructional techniques of Palm Beach County's best teachers. Teaching professionals from across the country are expected to visit the district's nearby Safe Schools Institute to watch the highly experienced instructors in the first classroom-cameras project of its kind in the nation.

But parents and civil liberties experts say they aren't sure what else the cameras will record and where the tapes will end up. They say the classroom is a sacred space that should be devoted solely to student-teacher interaction, not public observation.

Officials, of course, insist there is nothing to worry about.

They stress the videotaping will be used only to demonstrate the best teaching and discipline techniques and will not be used for surveillance, crime prevention or any other law-enforcement purpose.

"It wasn't the intent, ever, of these cameras to watch misbehavior," [Principal Debra] Johnson said.

"We will not be panning the room to see what kids are doing," she said.

However,

If a camera catches a student misbehaving, Johnson said she will discuss the behavior with the student and teacher.

So we're not watching for misbehavior except for any we see. Ms. Johnson could have said that any student misbehavior caught on tape would be ignored except, perhaps, as it relates to the supposed purpose of the program, that of illustrating good teaching methods. But she didn't. And therein lies the tale.

The issue here is more limited but the same in substance as the idiotic Supreme Court decision that approved police use of roadblocks to question motorists about their knowledge of a crime - despite the fact that there is little evidence that such roadblocks actually lead to any useful information.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the Supreme Court's ruling "will allow law enforcement in Illinois and across the nation to seek voluntary assistance from citizens in their efforts to solve crime."

But criminal defense lawyers and civil liberties groups questioned whether the decision would lead to abuse by officers.

"I would hope this wouldn't be an excuse for them to engage in willy-nilly roadblocks," said San Antonio, Texas, attorney Gerald Goldstein, former president of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "We're taking the officers at their word that they're looking for information and not looking at the occupants."

Seriously now: Do you imagine that if you happen into one of these "informational" roadblocks, the police are not going to ask for driver's license and car registration? That they're not going to be looking around inside the car to see what they can see? That they're not going to be observing your behavior (Do you seem nervous? Edgy? A little too anxious to get moving?) in a way that could justify a more thorough check? That they're not going to use this decision as a basis to justify random stops via roadblocks by claiming they were "informational?" It's amazing how often the day-to-day reality of people's lives just don't enter the rarefied atmosphere of our court system.

There is one advantage to getting older: I sometimes see a world coming in which I don't particularly want to live.

Unintentional Humor Dept.: Biloxi, Mississippi has installed such surveillance in all their 500 classrooms.

"Everyone was a little bit on guard at first, but soon after, everyone forgot they were there," said Laurie Pitre, principal of North Bay Elementary School in Biloxi, where the cameras are little black globes in the ceiling corner of each classroom. "It's a deterrent to misbehavior because students know if they make the wrong choice, it's been recorded."

Uh, excuse me, but how is it a deterrent if everyone has forgotten they're there?

Of course, the idea isn't for them to forget the cameras are there but to passively accept them. Paging Mr. Orwell....