In our country, under our Constitution, the authorities aren't allowed to spy on you unless they have specific and individual suspicion that you are doing something illegal. Unfortunately, law enforcement in our country seems to be reverting to certain old, bad behaviors when it comes to political surveillance. ... Americans have been put under surveillance or harassed by the police just for deciding to organize, march, protest, espouse unusual viewpoints and engage in normal, innocuous behaviors...

The report cited incidents of cross-country surveillance where undercover police officers infiltrated groups that were planning to attend protests during the 2004 Republican National Convention (RNC). Earlier this month, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled that the city of New York could withhold documents related to their surveillance practices [JURIST report] that led to the arrest of 1,800 protesters during the convention. The court found that the documents needed to remain confidential because their release could compromise future surveillance efforts.