Back in 2003 and 2004, when new activists were pouring into politics and the netroots movement was coming to life, New York became a nexus of progressive action against the deceptions, manipulations and power-grabs of the Bush Administration.

Now, The New York Times reports that this rise of people-powered politics was being closely monitored by undercover police, who were spying on groups that had no history of or intent to participate in criminal action.

New York's surplus of left-leaning talent, energy and creativity led to an explosion of new organizations, some of which had impact in '04 and many of which have evolved to be effective players in progressive politics today.

A lot of this energy was focused on actions during the RNC -- and created a tremendous spirit of collaboration among these progressive groups, a sense of teamwork that continues to define our movement.

It's strange, and a little sad, to look back and wonder which attendees were actually NYPD at the early meetings of Drinking Liberally, DFNYC, Downtown for Democracy, Music For America and Billionaires for Bush, or at gatherings of more established groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union and People For the American Way.

In 2004, Cosmopolity (now Living Liberally) hosted the Progressive Tourist Bureau and Blogger Alley at The Tank during the RNC (disclosure: I am a founder of both the non-profit Tank and non-electioneering Cosmopolity LLC).  A rising generation of bloggers, grassroots leaders and activist newcomers shared ideas, shared space, and shared a drink or two during an energizing week.  It may not have won us the election, but it built the bonds that have continued to fuel the blogosphere and national network of progressive activists.

And at that time, a number of collaborators seemed paranoid when they were nervous about infiltrators...we were asked a number of times how we would deal with agents provocateur.  I'm happy to say that we didn't give in to that type of fear in our planning...but it's odd to realize that in our photos and videos from that week, there are probably a few faces we never saw again, once they returned to NYPD HQ.

In addition to feeling like our privacy was invaded and our loyalty questioned by this senseless spying, I also smile a little...our movement has such a level of transparency, what did these police spies think they were going to find that we weren't already advertising over every list-serve and blog that would have us?

They were wasting their time and our taxes learning that, no, progressives didn't like Bush, and, yes, we love our country enough that we were going to work to make our voices heard.  I hope that fairly obvious lesson was worth the cost to the NYPD, in money, human resources and in the loss of trust I now feel in my city.