If You Missed This... Factory Farms: What You Need to Know About Minnesota's Anti-Whistleblower Bill

[WillyT]

Factory Farms: What You Need to Know About Minnesota's Anti-Whistleblower Bill
Megan Bedard - TakePart


If Minnesota's law passes, images like this will
be illegal to obtain without permission.
(Photo: CALM Action)

<snip>

If a new Minnesota bill eventually becomes law, anyone caught going undercover to document animal abuses at a factory farm could be sentenced to 5 years in jail. Here's what you need to know about the bill.

It's a Conflict of Interest

The bill was introduced by six Republicans, including Representative Rod Hamilton, the "past president of the Minnesota Pork Producers, and a current member," according to Will Potter, author of Green Is the New Red.

The remaining five Republican supporters are Dean Urdahl, Paul Anderson, Tony Cornish, Greg Davids, and Bob Dettmer. Find the contact information for these men on Greenisthenewred.com.

It Contains Dangerous Language

Potter says three components of the bill are especially dangerous to the rights of whistleblowers.

1.) The law would forbid "animal facility interference." Essentially, anyone who produces a recording of an image or sound occuring at an animal facility—or anyone caught possessing or distributing such content—could be charged with a gross misdemeanor. Presumably, that would include anyone who shared a video on YouTube.

2.) The law would prohibit "animal facility tampering," which means taking an animal from the facility. As Potter explains, "That, of course, is already a crime. But those provision also goes further, and includes 'disrupting' the operations of such a facility." Such vague language, Potter explains, opens opportunites for aggressive prosecutors to abuse the reach of the law to shut down whistleblowers—who would then be charged with a felony.

3.) The law explicitly targets whistleblowers who commit "animal facility fraud." Anyone who intentionally obtains a job at an animal facility with the intent to document abuses could be charged with a gross misdemeanor.

<snip>

More: http://www.takepart.com/news/2011/04/15/minnesota-wants-cameras-out-of-factory-farms

:wtf:

:mad:

:kick:

[Angry Dragon]

1. Why do they hate animals so much??

Insanity has crossed the border from Wisconsin

[WillyT]

3. I Loved This...

Writer Sarah Damian points out the irony of wealthy Monsanto's sudden interest in privacy:

That's a bit ironic, however, given the fact that Monsanto investigators are notorious for trespassing on farmers' property and going to extreme measures to produce evidence of seed patent infringement, including posing as land mappers or even joining a local Alcohol Anonymous group to gain the farmers' trust and gain video access to their fields. Talk about undercover.

Same article.

:shrug:

:hi:

[SpiralHawk]

2. Republicons advocating OCCULTISM. As usual.

Republicons always hide the stanky shit they are up to -- screwing the American public with funny money, and corrupted Factory crap meat...

Ptooooey on Republicon occultism.

[WillyT]

4. Kick !!!

:kick:

[dflprincess]

5. There are 2 versions of the bill on in the Senate & one in the House

Last time I looked, the House bill has only Republican sponsors but, sadly, there are two DFL senators who have signed on to the Senate version.