Gatherings 12 -- September 2004

First they came for the . . .

By Bob Russell

The Neahtawanta Center has had its own web/mail server since early March 2003. The center made this commitment for several reasons; one was the concern over control of content and who has access to the server and its content. Recent events have reinforced the decision to own our server.

President Bush paid a visit to Traverse City on August 16, 2004, to campaign for his bid to win the election for the White House. He is campaigning hard to win the election this time instead of just being appointed by the Supreme Court. During his visit over 1000 people showed up to protest President Bush The Appointed.

I videotaped the protesters and supporters of the President on that beautiful warm sunny day. People were enjoying being outdoors on a Monday afternoon; it almost seemed like a holiday. The event was considered a private Republican party held outside at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, for approved Republicans. This scenario created a segregation of the protesters outside the fence and Republican supporters inside the fence.

The protesters figured out the President’s route into the Civic Center and started lining up along that route. Sure enough, the President and his support vehicles came speeding down the route. And just as he was speeding by, a couple of protesters crossed the yellow police line into the “sterile zone”.

The police quickly arrested them. Just after this happened, and as the protesters were being taken away, a federal marshall came up to me and asked to see what I had been videotaping. I had to stop taping and back up the tape so he could watch some of it. He looked for a minute and then asked me who I was and who I was working for. I answered his questions as I felt that would be the most expedient thing I could do in order to get back to recording the event. He thanked me and walked away. I started taping again in time to capture the arrest of the attorney who was arguing with the police about the arrest.

I got back to the center and did a quick edit of some of the protest footage, including the arrest, and put it on our server at http://ventingmedia.com/bush04.

Jeff Gibbs, a friend and co-producer with Michael Moore, subsequently forwarded the link to Michael Moore’s web site. Once that link appeared we got hundreds of thousands of visits to the video clip of the anti-Bush demonstration. The server is hosted by Wireless First that has more than adequate bandwidth to handle the load and it served up over 100 GigaBits over several days.

Having our own server enhanced our ability to act quickly to upload video clips without hassles, but it did create a hassle for the folks at Wireless First. A detective from the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Department showed up at the Wireless First office with a search warrant for files on ventingmedia.com relating to the anti-Bush video clip. The warrant named Wireless First instead of the owners of ventingmedia.com and asked for the wrong file names. On top of that, if they had been more Internet savvy they could have gotten the file directly from the web site themselves.

I ended up giving them the video clip file they wanted on CD as they didn’t have the ability to get the video clip themselves from the web site.

It is still free and available to the public to watch on our web site at ventingmedia.com and a copy can be downloaded to your computer with Quicktime Pro.

The county prosecutor wanted the files to help decide what charges to bring against the protesters. I’m not sure how they learned of the video clips that were on our server, but someone must be watching ventingmedia besides the activists. In this instance the files were in the public domain for free use, but we do have private files and email lists that we would not be willing to give up. This has spurred us to get a legal opinion on what we are obligated to provide when approached by the “system”. With the current Patriot Act already in effect and Patriot Act II on it’s way, it will be more critical to protect our civil rights, especially the freedom from unfair search and seizure by the government. First they came for the . . .

		september 2004 -- Issue 12

First they came for the . . . By Bob Russell The Neahtawanta Center has had its own web/mail server since early March 2003. The center made this commitment for several reasons; one was the concern over control of content and who has access to the server and its content. Recent events have reinforced the decision to own our server. President Bush paid a visit to Traverse City on August 16, 2004, to campaign for his bid to win the election for the White House. He is campaigning hard to win the election this time instead of just being appointed by the Supreme Court. During his visit over 1000 people showed up to protest President Bush The Appointed. I videotaped the protesters and supporters of the President on that beautiful warm sunny day. People were enjoying being outdoors on a Monday afternoon; it almost seemed like a holiday. The event was considered a private Republican party held outside at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, for approved Republicans. This scenario created a segregation of the protesters outside the fence and Republican supporters inside the fence. The protesters figured out the President’s route into the Civic Center and started lining up along that route. Sure enough, the President and his support vehicles came speeding down the route. And just as he was speeding by, a couple of protesters crossed the yellow police line into the “sterile zone”. The police quickly arrested them. Just after this happened, and as the protesters were being taken away, a federal marshall came up to me and asked to see what I had been videotaping. I had to stop taping and back up the tape so he could watch some of it. He looked for a minute and then asked me who I was and who I was working for. I answered his questions as I felt that would be the most expedient thing I could do in order to get back to recording the event. He thanked me and walked away. I started taping again in time to capture the arrest of the attorney who was arguing with the police about the arrest. I got back to the center and did a quick edit of some of the protest footage, including the arrest, and put it on our server at http://ventingmedia.com/bush04. Jeff Gibbs, a friend and co-producer with Michael Moore, subsequently forwarded the link to Michael Moore’s web site. Once that link appeared we got hundreds of thousands of visits to the video clip of the anti-Bush demonstration. The server is hosted by Wireless First that has more than adequate bandwidth to handle the load and it served up over 100 GigaBits over several days. Having our own server enhanced our ability to act quickly to upload video clips without hassles, but it did create a hassle for the folks at Wireless First. A detective from the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Department showed up at the Wireless First office with a search warrant for files on ventingmedia.com relating to the anti-Bush video clip. The warrant named Wireless First instead of the owners of ventingmedia.com and asked for the wrong file names. On top of that, if they had been more Internet savvy they could have gotten the file directly from the web site themselves. I ended up giving them the video clip file they wanted on CD as they didn’t have the ability to get the video clip themselves from the web site. It is still free and available to the public to watch on our web site at ventingmedia.com and a copy can be downloaded to your computer with Quicktime Pro. The county prosecutor wanted the files to help decide what charges to bring against the protesters. I’m not sure how they learned of the video clips that were on our server, but someone must be watching ventingmedia besides the activists. In this instance the files were in the public domain for free use, but we do have private files and email lists that we would not be willing to give up. This has spurred us to get a legal opinion on what we are obligated to provide when approached by the “system”. With the current Patriot Act already in effect and Patriot Act II on it’s way, it will be more critical to protect our civil rights, especially the freedom from unfair search and seizure by the government. First they came for the . . .

September 2004 -- Issue 12	Gatherings Main Index	Center Home