ACLU defends RFID Protestor Rights to Free Speech
Liz McIntyre | 13.09.2003 11:43 | Social Struggles | Technology
CASPIAN, an organization opposed to RFID tagging of consumer items, was denied the right of free speech at a public convention venue. The operators of McCormick Place in Chicago denied the group the right to wear t-shirts with printed messages. Members of the public walk through the buildings regularly, and there are shops and a public train stop within the buildings.
CHICAGO – The operators of McCormick Place are violating the constitutionally-protected free speech rights of a national organization committed to protecting consumers from intrusive surveillance by commercial interests by barring the group from distributing leaflets, wearing t-shirts with anti-surveillance messages and speaking to individuals in public areas at the prominent convention center, according to a lawsuit filed in federal district court today. The organization, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN), have been denied access to the Grand Concourse at McCormick Place and a park area outside the Grand Concourse during the Electronic Product Code Symposium scheduled to take place at McCormick Place on September 15 through 17, 2003.
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois are representing CASPIAN in their efforts to gain access to the public areas at McCormick Place. Because of the time sensitivity of the issue, the ACLU of Illinois has asked the court to schedule an emergency hearing to consider a motion for a temporary restraining order mandating that the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) allow representatives of CASPIAN to access the Grand Concourse and nearby park area for distribution of leaflets and other expressive activity.
“The Electronic Product Code Symposium gathers together key decision makers with vendors committed to increasing the reach of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology,” said Katherine Albrecht, the Founder and Director of CASPIAN. “Unless groups such as CASPIAN have access to the public areas of McCormick Place, attendees to the convention will not hear from consumers concerned about the intrusive nature of these tools and their potential impact on privacy and civil liberties.”
The complaint filed today challenges the policy at McCormick Place of banning all expressive activity inside and outside the facility other than the speech and expression controlled by the sponsors of private trade shows and other similar events, with the exception of a “designated area” outside the facility and more than 200 feet away from the buildings, far from CASPIAN’s intended audience. The lawsuit seeks to insure that CASPIAN has access to two particular areas – the Grand Concourse, a public area linking the North and South Buildings at the large complex, and a park area immediately adjacent to the Grand Concourse on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
The ACLU of Illinois argues that the Grand Concourse should be open for expressive activity because it is a public area. The Concourse is open to the public, with restaurants and retail stores, as well as direct access to Chicago and regional public transportation. Any one can enter the Concourse and access these facilities, even if they are not registered for a convention at McCormick Place. Similarly, the park area immediately to the west of the Grand Concourse is open to the public, allowing thousands of persons to walk through without registering for an event at McCormick Place.
“Public areas should be open for free expression by individuals concerned about a host of issues,” according to Adam Schwartz of the ACLU of Illinois. “McCormick Place – funded, operated and owned by the government – has no legitimate interests in denying free expression in areas that are otherwise open to the general public.”
McCormick Place is considered the nation’s premier convention facility, hosting more than 4 million visitors each year. It is regularly the site for business, professional, educational and governmental events. While groups and individuals using the space in McCormick Place regularly invite the public, the media and opinion leaders to the convention center to advance and advocate their viewpoint, the McCormick Place’s current policy allows persons with a dissenting viewpoint to use an outside space 200 feet away from the entrance to the facility – a location that denies dissenters an opportunity to make their message clear to convention attendees.
“The import of McCormick Place in the economic and political life of Chicago and the nation is obvious,” added the ACLU’s Schwartz. “Because the facility is operated by the State of Illinois, the managers have an obligation to insure that all viewpoints have an opportunity to be heard in the public areas of the convention center – fostering critical discussion about important issues.”
CASPIAN is a national, grassroots organization opposed to business practices that invade consumer privacy. The organization opposes the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices to tag and track individual consumer products. CASPIAN also has voiced strong opposition to the development and implementation of the Electronic Product Code (EPC) network, a system that is designed to uniquely number all RFID tagged items and connect them to computer databases via the Internet. This technology is to be the subject of next week’s conference at McCormick Place.
# # #
A copy of the complaint is available at
http://www.aclu-il.org/mailings/complaint9-12-03.doc
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois are representing CASPIAN in their efforts to gain access to the public areas at McCormick Place. Because of the time sensitivity of the issue, the ACLU of Illinois has asked the court to schedule an emergency hearing to consider a motion for a temporary restraining order mandating that the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) allow representatives of CASPIAN to access the Grand Concourse and nearby park area for distribution of leaflets and other expressive activity.
“The Electronic Product Code Symposium gathers together key decision makers with vendors committed to increasing the reach of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology,” said Katherine Albrecht, the Founder and Director of CASPIAN. “Unless groups such as CASPIAN have access to the public areas of McCormick Place, attendees to the convention will not hear from consumers concerned about the intrusive nature of these tools and their potential impact on privacy and civil liberties.”
The complaint filed today challenges the policy at McCormick Place of banning all expressive activity inside and outside the facility other than the speech and expression controlled by the sponsors of private trade shows and other similar events, with the exception of a “designated area” outside the facility and more than 200 feet away from the buildings, far from CASPIAN’s intended audience. The lawsuit seeks to insure that CASPIAN has access to two particular areas – the Grand Concourse, a public area linking the North and South Buildings at the large complex, and a park area immediately adjacent to the Grand Concourse on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
The ACLU of Illinois argues that the Grand Concourse should be open for expressive activity because it is a public area. The Concourse is open to the public, with restaurants and retail stores, as well as direct access to Chicago and regional public transportation. Any one can enter the Concourse and access these facilities, even if they are not registered for a convention at McCormick Place. Similarly, the park area immediately to the west of the Grand Concourse is open to the public, allowing thousands of persons to walk through without registering for an event at McCormick Place.
“Public areas should be open for free expression by individuals concerned about a host of issues,” according to Adam Schwartz of the ACLU of Illinois. “McCormick Place – funded, operated and owned by the government – has no legitimate interests in denying free expression in areas that are otherwise open to the general public.”
McCormick Place is considered the nation’s premier convention facility, hosting more than 4 million visitors each year. It is regularly the site for business, professional, educational and governmental events. While groups and individuals using the space in McCormick Place regularly invite the public, the media and opinion leaders to the convention center to advance and advocate their viewpoint, the McCormick Place’s current policy allows persons with a dissenting viewpoint to use an outside space 200 feet away from the entrance to the facility – a location that denies dissenters an opportunity to make their message clear to convention attendees.
“The import of McCormick Place in the economic and political life of Chicago and the nation is obvious,” added the ACLU’s Schwartz. “Because the facility is operated by the State of Illinois, the managers have an obligation to insure that all viewpoints have an opportunity to be heard in the public areas of the convention center – fostering critical discussion about important issues.”
CASPIAN is a national, grassroots organization opposed to business practices that invade consumer privacy. The organization opposes the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices to tag and track individual consumer products. CASPIAN also has voiced strong opposition to the development and implementation of the Electronic Product Code (EPC) network, a system that is designed to uniquely number all RFID tagged items and connect them to computer databases via the Internet. This technology is to be the subject of next week’s conference at McCormick Place.
# # #
A copy of the complaint is available at
http://www.aclu-il.org/mailings/complaint9-12-03.doc
Liz McIntyre
