Iris Scans: Crushing Dissent Two Eyes at a Time
Channel: Owen Crowley
Date: 2014-03-29

Claire and Keegan were arrested while exercising their 1st Amendment rights, ostensibly for lying down on a park bench.  Claire was then held in jail for 36 hours because she refused to submit to a biometric scan.

Clair and Keegan have mounted a challenge to their detention in Federal court.  Please give to their legal fund here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lebowitz-and-stephan-v-city-of-new-york

On the evening of January 10th 2012, the police were compelled to remove their barricades at Zuccotti Park.  The Occupy Wall Street community joyously streamed in to celebrate and reconnect with each other at the location where they launch waves of public protest in the United States in 2011. 

Claire and Keegan were arrested for lying down on a bench and charged with trespass, resisting arrest and obstructing government administration. 

Claire subsequently spent 36 hours in jail for refusing to submit to an iris scan program that violates privacy concerns with no public oversight. 

The collection of biometric data by police in New York City is troubling, especially because the technology now exists to scan irises in a crowd with a devises the size of smart phones.