November 17, 2009 8:48AM # A Rarity: Newspaper Argues Against Techno-panic, Cites Constitution By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE Progress & Freedom Foundation president and Cato alumnus Adam Thierer has done yeoman’s work for years pointing out, and arguing against, the phenomenon of [techno-panic](http://techliberation.com/2009/07/15/against-techno-panics/) as it relates to children. That’s not the only area in which techno-panic can tighten its grip on the neck of common sense and the constitution, of course. But here’s a delight I ran across this morning: the *Los Angeles Times* arguing against techno-panic despite the use of Web sites to research and case potential burglary victims (by the “[bling ring](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-celebrity-burglaries7-2009nov07,0,3690928.story),” soon to be the subject of a major motion picture). The *Times* [editorializes](http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-google17-2009nov17,0,7183820.story): > \[T\]hieves \[did not\] have to wait for the invention of Google maps to reconnoiter neighborhoods in search of easily accessible homes. That’s worth remembering if, as we fear, some legislator decides that a law should be passed to prevent Internet surfers from looking at houses they easily could scope out from the sidewalk.…. A law against photographing a home or what occurs outside it in plain sight — or disseminating the images to others — would be overreaching, not to mention unconstitutional. What a delight—a major newspaper arguing to keep a hot issue in perspective and citing the constitution as a limit on government power! Thank you, *L.A. Times*. ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).