Civil rights organization calls out school board for ‘pre-crime surveillance’

The Rutherford Institute, a noted civil and religious rights advocate, has written to the Fairfax County school board in Falls Church, Virginia, to warn officials there about the “pre-crime surveillance” agenda they have adopted.

“While it may appear commendable at first glance, this school-sponsored social media monitoring program is problematic on multiple fronts, not the least of which is the message it would send students that they have no rights: to privacy, free speech, or the freedom to explore different ideas and think for themselves. Indeed, this program is tantamount to an Orwellian pre-crime program complete with thought police,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of “Battlefield America: The War on the American People.”

The school system there has announced its scheme to impose a “pre-crime surveillance program” that would be established to “monitor and deter social media threats, hate speech, bullying and harassment by students.”

But the Institute says it raises significant questions about government surveillance and “its chilling effect on the lawful speech of students, parents, and other community members.”

It also could trigger “one-size-fits-all zero tolerance policies regarding expressive activity that is misconstrued as negative, critical or hateful.”- READ MORE