Federal Judge Rules Police Violated First Amendment Rights Of Ferguson Protesters

A federal judge ruled on Monday, October 6, that police in Ferguson cannot enforce a so-called ‘five-second rule’ requiring protesters to keep moving or face arrest. This all started after a tense weekend of demonstrations in mid-August, where Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson informed protesters that they were now required to be in constant movement and weren’t allowed to congregate in large groups.

Reporters and protestors both claimed that the police were arbitrarily enforcing a five-second rule, in which they are not allowed to stand still for more than five seconds.

In her ruling Monday, District Judge Catherine Perry said that this police tactic was a clear violation of the protesters’ First Amendment rights and that local police needed to immediately cease enforcing the rule. Perry also stated that police officers violated due process rights of protesters by arbitrarily enforcing rules and having the “unfettered discretion” to do so. She also stated that the law enforcement has the ability to enforce legitimate laws, as long as they weren’t violating the constitutional rights of people to gather peacefully and protest. Therefore, they are allowed to enforce Missouri’s failure to disperse law, which is a low-grade misdemeanor. She pointed out that the law can only be enforced in a situation of a riot or an unlawful assembly and a person refuses to obey a command to leave the scene at that time.

While this was going on, both Johnson and St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar claimed that they were unaware of the ‘five-second rule.’  

After reading this article and hearing about on the news, it really disturbed me that the police would even enforce a five-second rule. It reminds me of something you would tell children to do. It was an immature and unfathomable way of dealing with the protestors. I'm so glad the judge rules that the police did violate the first amendment rights of Ferguson protestors. What also got to me too was how Johnson denied it even happening and how he was "unaware" of it.

Link to article:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/06/ferguson-protesters-keep-walking_n_5942482.html

Three Items for Annotated Reference List

1. Schuurman, N. (2012). Walking through life with a series of happy coincidences: Cookies at every step. 56(4), P391-392. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from Academic Search Premier.

The editor discusses the working of cookies in computers and its role in gathering user specific data. He elaborates how many companies use cookies for data compilation and sell them to various Internet advertisers. The author also informs on the website Do Not Track Plus, that informs on the use of user perambulation information by different social networks, advertising agencies and other businesses. The use of gathering user specific data I can be used as an explanation of privacy concern for consumers. 

2. Doctorow, C. (2012). The Curious Case of Internet Privacy. 115(4), P65-66. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from Business Source Elite.

The author looks at issues of privacy on the Internet as of 2012, focusing on the tracking and collection of information on Internet users and its sale and use by commercial entities. He argues that consumers have too little control over their personal information and are vulnerable to various kinds of harms from unintended release of information. He discusses various ways of addressing the problem, including limiting Internet cookies in the same way pop-up advertisements have been limited. This reference would be great source to prove the problem of secrecy that Internet Cookies come with: Many consumers don't have the expertise to limit cookies on their computer.

3. Kumar, S., & Sharma, R. (2014). An Empirical Analysis of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail. 18(1), P1-19. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from Business Source Elite.

This article discusses the benefits of cookies for computer users and the problems which come with the technology. The authors also conducted several studies to come to the conclusion that consumers are negatively inclined toward e-mail marketing and feel as though the marketers are unethical. This reference can support the security and privacy issues that consumers have when using cookies. 

4. Ralph, H. (2014). The Internet: Mass Communication Gets Personal. In Mass Communication: Living in a Media World (4th ed., p. P251-256). Canada: SAGE Publications.

Chapter 10 of Mass Communication: Living in a Media World further explains the privacy of the web and conflicts over digital Media. This reference will enable a greater detailed explanation of all three problems that cookies come with: Privacy, Security, and Secrecy. 

Propaganda Techniques

Beautiful People: 

The type of propaganda that deals with famous people or depicts attractive, happy people. This suggests if people buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. In this image, the attractive celebrity, Jessica Simpson, is used to present the product, Proactive. Proactive is a face cleanser that will give clear and radiant skin. Having clear and radiant skin is portrayed as achieving happiness and in this advertisement, Jessica Simpson is smiling to express how happy she is about her clear beautiful skin. The advertisement uses Miss. Simpson to reach out to the majority of the population because Simpson is a well-known celebrity. Because she is a well-known celebrity, most people look up to her and in many ways almost trust her word though this advertisement. All in all, Miss. Simpson attracts the customers to buy Proactive because of her attractiveness and her influence through her authority. 

Appeal to Authority: 

Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action. This image contains President Obama with one word that expresses his goal when becoming president, which is change. During the elections of 2008, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney fought for Presidency and when they tried to reach out to the public, they each made their ideas and goals available and known out to the public. Obama's propaganda advertisement was widespread across America and became a very well-known image. The image's one word use was so powerful that Obama almost owned that word. The single word Change became synonymous with Obama. Im not trying to say that because of this image was the reason why he won, but that this image was very influential in his campaign success. 

Media Research Paper Topics

Topics that I would love to research in order of interest: 

1. Advertising Tracking 

• The use of cookies.
• Possible privacy violation of internet tracking and data collecting.
• How advertising tracking is used by corporations to promote their products.

2. Political Agenda

• The effect that a political party has on certain aspects of the media.
• How much influence can a political party have by using their media outlet and tactics.  For example, if their is a proposition that needs to be passed, it's how they can effectively use their propaganda to influence the outcome of the election.