Coming to you live from the Free State. On this episode of The Independents, Carla Gericke breaks down a first-of-its-kind New Hampshire case: a jury just acquitted Jaxen Cole of two Class B felony “fraudulent use of deepfakes” charges after he posted a 57-second Valentine’s Day spoof of booking-room bodycam audio. No face. No badge. No department. Caption: “Do you think this officer wants to be my Valentine?” Deliberations took about half an hour.
That is the win. The warning is next door. Laconia City Council just voted 5–1 to take an $86,500 Homeland Security grant for solar-powered pole cameras. Officials say they are not Flock, not cloud-based, and not new — replacements for cameras the city has used for decades. Carla’s argument: even “just cameras” tilt the field when the state records you and then fights your right to record them back. She walks through RSA 91-A questions to file on the grant file, specs, locations, retention, sharing, and who gets to look at the footage.
Template is at: CarlaGericke.com.
Also on the table: Thursday’s Ballot Law Commission meeting at the State Archives (Sept. 17, 10 a.m.) and the school property-tax cap that will be on every New Hampshire ballot this November — two years at a time, back again in 2028.
Live Free or Die is not a bumper sticker. It is a workload.
Chapters
0:00 Live from the Free State
0:37 Welcome / what’s on the show
1:02 “Will you be my Valentine?” — the hook
1:11 Jaxen Cole, Laconia, RSA 638:26-a
3:11 How a well-intentioned deepfake bill becomes a felony hammer
6:04 The booking-room clip, the parody, the two felonies
10:20 The court defines “identifiable.” The jury doesn’t buy it
12:34 Bodycams, citizen recording, and the growing surveillance gap
14:38 Laconia’s $86.5k pole-camera grant
16:02 The 2019 Manchester camera case and taxpayer standing
21:14 What to put in a Right-to-Know request — and why federal strings matter
26:10 Ballot Law Commission, Thursday 10 a.m., State Archives
26:48 School property tax cap on the November ballot
28:09 Sign-off: peace, love, understanding — live free and thrive
If you want to act
- Download the Laconia RSA 91-A request: CarlaGericke.com
- Ballot Law Commission: Thursday, Sept. 17, 10:00 a.m., NH State Archives
- Watch for the school property-tax cap on your local November ballot
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