The developments come amid a federal trial over the department's use of stop and frisk, and they follow a series of stories by The Associated Press that revealed how city police systematically listened in on sermons, hung out at cafesandother public places, infiltrated colleges and photographed people as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks.
Writing just a few years after the birth of the Web, Oldenburg was lamenting the disappearance of cafes, taverns, restaurants, libraries, andother public places that were instrumental to the development of American civic life.