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dryfterThis has probably already hit other peoples' journals by now, but anyway:
A passenger sitting next to Henry Rollins on a flight (from New Zealand to Australia) reported Rollins to the Australian anti-terror police as a potential terrorist, because Rollins was reading Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia. Rollins received a letter informing him of this, apparently saying that the government knew it was probably "idiotic", but they do follow up all tip-offs.
The thing that scares me here is that people are dobbing in each other to a secret police who then have sufficient grounds to spy on you. Yeah, I know, I know, if you're not doing anything wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about, I've heard it before.. but I still don't like the apparent fact that people are turning each other in based on nothing more than the books they are reading.
It's really not a good look.
I hope that anonymous passenger is feeling stupid by now.
(Thanks to Jason-WINOLJ for the link)
A passenger sitting next to Henry Rollins on a flight (from New Zealand to Australia) reported Rollins to the Australian anti-terror police as a potential terrorist, because Rollins was reading Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia. Rollins received a letter informing him of this, apparently saying that the government knew it was probably "idiotic", but they do follow up all tip-offs.
The thing that scares me here is that people are dobbing in each other to a secret police who then have sufficient grounds to spy on you. Yeah, I know, I know, if you're not doing anything wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about, I've heard it before.. but I still don't like the apparent fact that people are turning each other in based on nothing more than the books they are reading.
It's really not a good look.
I hope that anonymous passenger is feeling stupid by now.
(Thanks to Jason-WINOLJ for the link)
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 01:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 01:40 pm (UTC)"If you're not doing anything wrong, you won't have anything to worry about."
Most of the time, I agree with this. Police walking the beat. Customs inspections. CCTV. In rare cases, I don't. I can't think of any off-hand.
If you're in a responsible society where you think you can pretty much trust the gov. to do the right thing at least most of the time, then the things that people worry about (oyster cards, cctv... um... other stuff) in terms of 'Big brother', aren't a problem.
However, governments change. The US is a prime example of this. The spirit of laws brought in to protect the populace in times when they needed protecting is being shat upon. Will Britain go the same way? Difficult to say.
There are governments where I think that the policemen on the streets have too much power over you. Men with guns. Border guards and customs in other countries aren't exactly reliable or safe.
I'm rambling.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 02:12 pm (UTC)But hey.. we already knew that the average person on the street doesn't trust anyone else. Everyone has been twice bitten before.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 08:59 am (UTC)http://21361.com/site_2004/main_dispatches.html
It's... well... Rollins is a complete ass, isn't he?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 11:56 am (UTC)To that, I think that Rollins' response (go fuck yourself) is a bit misguided :(
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 05:39 pm (UTC)http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4510786.stm
Obviously, nothing to worry about.
Assuming that there are checks in place to stop the watchers abusing the system. Problem is, most of the time there isn't. Particularly when these measures get rushed in quickly as a knee-jerk response to some incident.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 08:51 am (UTC)There are a lot of knee-jerk responses, but I believe in a lot of cases the incidents are used as a reason, rather than being the cause. ID cards are a good idea, IMO, if done right (the fact that the implementation will probably suck is by the by). The 'terrorist threat' was an excuse to get them pushed through.
I don't believe that the government wants to control us, or that they will use this sort of thing to hurt us. I don't believe that it is the first step towards a police state. I -think- that Britain is a pretty liberal place and is likely to stay that way.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 02:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 05:40 pm (UTC)Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 02:47 pm (UTC)Don't suspect your friends - inform on them!
It's an interesting time to be a noncomformist with anarchist leanings. But I suspect that I have nothing new to say on the matter; so try a couple of tired and trite observations (http://hairyears.livejournal.com/61674.html) from the recent past:
And I recall blogging this little gem (http://hairyears.livejournal.com/71542.html) a couple of weeks ago: not all informers work for the government, and some of them are paid a great deal of money for what they do.
Wake up and smell the coffee. We don't have free elections in this country any more. The word of a paid informer can - and will, if your life comes into the public eye - result in your subjected to public humiliations and punishments that will make you wish you had been sent to prison, for your own safety.
Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 03:05 pm (UTC)The current wave of irritating station announcements seem to be " . If you suspect it, report it."
I wonder how much fun I could have by suspecting something and reporting it ... something random each day perhaps. I'm sure I don't need actual evidence to suspect something.
Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 04:45 pm (UTC)I'm so glad I don't travel by tube very much. Everybody would throw me out in a matter of minutes.
Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 04:47 pm (UTC)I'm glad I don't travel by the tube either. Shame I have to use Thameslink though.
Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 04:57 pm (UTC)Minging Rim Mystery Today!
Date: 2006-02-20 05:29 pm (UTC)Penguins... I Googled for exploding penguins: it would appear that you have a perfectly valid National Security Concern, citizen.
Farting: less amusing. Saying 'That man smells of poison gas' will get us all sent to Guantanamo Bay.
As for the stains, I am reminded of the deeply uncharitable remark made about one of the admin girls, who had shagged her way through our Quant desk (most of whom were mathematicians with Doctorates from unpronounceable engineering institutes in Moscow):
The Ministry Will Ring Tonight
Date: 2006-02-20 05:10 pm (UTC)It's been done. Under the Money-Laundering provisions of the Financial Services Act, accountants and solicitors involved in tax and contractual work have to report everything that might be a suspicious transaction.
So they report everything, and there is so much information that the authorities are snowed under. Effectively, there is no information.
With respect to supplying information to the security services, I'd advise against it. Firstly, you could send people to prison - that's no joke; secondly, you could piss off the Security Services enought for them to make your life miserable; and, thirdly, you might want to look up the backlash against Stasi informers in the former Occupied Zone in Eastern Germany.
Re: The Ministry Will Ring Tonight
Date: 2006-02-20 05:14 pm (UTC)Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 04:46 pm (UTC)I wonder if they do bulk discounts on T-shirt printing.
Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 04:48 pm (UTC)Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 04:58 pm (UTC)I'm From The Ministry: Kiss My Ring
Date: 2006-02-20 05:03 pm (UTC)I hope that people will be reassured by this.
Re: I'm From The Ministry: Kiss My Ring
Date: 2006-02-20 05:05 pm (UTC)DO NOT BE ALARMED
Ginger Mini Stir Fry King
Date: 2006-02-20 05:55 pm (UTC)Re: Ginger Mini Stir Fry King
Date: 2006-02-21 04:15 am (UTC)Re: Ginger Mini Stir Fry King
Date: 2006-02-21 11:07 am (UTC)What, me, a Discordian?
Re: Ring the Ministry today.
Date: 2006-02-20 05:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 11:11 pm (UTC)I got a phonecall from the BTP. They wanted me to stop the next Upminster train that arrived at Earls Court and hold it there until the police could arrive. Why? Because someone at Baron's Court had seen an "Arabic-looking man" sitting in the first car reading the Q'ran.
Was he reading it in an alarming and loud manner? No. Was he abusing other passengers? No. Did he have a scarily suspicious-looking backpack with him? No. He was just another commuter who happened to have dark skin.
I told the BTP caller I wasn't going to hold the train (especially as they would take about 15 minutes to get there, which would have crucified the service). "But...you have to! I'm telling you to hold it!"
"Listen, mate, last time I looked reading books on the tube wasn't illegal." And I ordered the driver to proceed. The Duty Operations Manager backed me up.
If it had been a white man reading the Bible, no-one would have batted an eyelid.