Government Spies On Jay-Z, Diddy & Russell (?)

For those that think that government spying is a thing of the past, think again. It was revealed that the New York Police Department spied on various individuals before the 2004 Republican National Convention was held in New York.

Details of this were revealed in 600 pages worth of secret files released by the New York Civil Liberties Union. In the documents, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Russell Simmons and Alicia Keys were all put under surveillance in the months before the 2004 Republican National Convention arrived in New York. Each one of the artists attended a rally held by Russell Simmons Hip-Hop Summit Action Network in Aug. Of 2004, to support voter registration and to address various political issues.

"These documents paint a picture of a surveillance program that was broad, clumsy, and often unlawful," said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU Executive Director. "The NYPD failed to differentiate between unlawful behavior and behavior that is not only lawful but should in fact be cherished and protected. Today the public can finally bear witness to that failure."

The documents also reveal that email list serves as well as political meetings were infiltrated by NYPD officers years before the Republican National Convention. New York officials tried to keep this from going public but a judge ruled in favor of the documents being available for general viewing on May 4th.

The NYPD is accused of recording information about activity that was completely peaceful and lawful.

The documents can be found at www.nyclu.org/rncdocs/