Rou

John Adams lives and breathes. Maybe it's just a man using a pseudonym, but I think Adams would smile to think that his name would be attached to this work.

In Whitewater, Wisconsin, a man pens a blog under the name John Adams. His main goal seem to be to point out the failures of the local government in general. Basically, his site is just like this one, but more focused and localized.

Naturally, the authorities in his area don't like to be criticized. The chief of police, James Coan, decided he didn't like the site. He and others on his staff, spent time at work, using police and country resources to try to identify the man behind the pseudonym. They ran license plates, and they conducted surveillance, all in an attempt to violate his rights. They even went so far as to get a judge to issue a subpoena demanding his identity.

As you might recall from my recent post, anonymous posting online is a protected right, guaranteed by the constitution, and upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. Any attempt by a government body to identify a person posting online without probably cause of a crime is a violation of that person's first amendment rights. Pure and simple.

So, our friendly neighborhood incompetent cop has already made my shit list. I have this silly thing about cops... you know... obeying the law. And police chiefs even more so. So The next part makes me love him all the more.

He thought he figured out who John Adams was. So, Mr Legally Challenged police chief dropped by for a "talk". He brought a police lieutenant with him. Nice, friendly cat right? I mean, there is nothing intimidating about two armed cops knocking on your door and demanding a discussion about your posts online. I believe the Supreme Court describes that as a "chilling" effect on free speech. It's made worse by the fact that they were wrong. They were "questioning" the wrong guy. He was not "John Adams".

But they did eventually find the right guy. Had the same setup. Chief and a cop come to the door and demand to talk about the website. Some intimidation occurs, and the conversation ends. The Chief claims that he didn't try to stop Adams from publishing. He just wanted Adams to "provide him with answers to his questions and concerns." Never mind he could have just emailed the website to get those answers.

The only reason I can see for face to face over email is intimidation.

Quite frankly, Coan seems to be the kind of cop that give cops a bad name. He's abusing his power in an attempt to silence a critic. I'm extremely glad he doesn't have any power where I live. For those poor readers that do suffer under his tyranny, I can only say I feel bad for you.

Mr Coan, I sincerely hope you're fired. The sooner the better. And I hope Mr Adams and his community get someone more qualified, and professional to run their police department.