Britain rapidly turning into a Orwellian Police State

[EvadingGrid]

Police 'arrest innocent youths for their DNA',
officer claims

04 Jun 2009
Full article:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5444332/Police-arrest-innocent-youths-for-their-DNA-officer-claims.html

Hundreds of teenagers are having their DNA taken by police in case they commit crimes later in life, an officer has disclosed.

Officers are targeting children as young as 10 with the aim of placing their DNA profiles on the national database to improve their chances of solving crimes, it is claimed. The alleged practice is also described as part of a "long-term crime prevention strategy" to dissuade youths from committing offences in the future.

The claim comes amid widespread criticism of government proposals to store DNA profiles of innocent people, including some children, on the database for up to 12 years. Civil liberty campaigners have condemned the tactic of as "diabolical" and said it showed contempt for children's freedom.

A Metropolitan Police officer made the claims after figures were released showing that 386 under-18s had their DNA taken and stored by police last year in Camden, north London.

The officer said: "Have we got targets for young people who have not been arrested yet? The answer is yes. But we are not just waiting outside schools to pick them up, we are acting on intelligence.

"It is part of a long-term crime prevention strategy. If you know you have had your DNA taken and it is on a database then you will think twice about committing burglary for a living.

"We are often told that we have just one chance to get that DNA sample and if we miss it then that might mean a rape or a murder goes unsolved in the future."

[antinwo]

This is TOTALLY outrageous!!!

We have a situation here were the British government is not just banning people from entering the UK for exercising freedom of speech but are DICTATING what values people can believe in and what the public are alllowed to say.   

I am disgusted that most British newspapers are reporting on this like its' a good thing when it is clearly just the tip of the iceberg and setting a huge precedent.

Ironic the majority of terrorist threats are from UK born radicalised citizens that New Labour allowed to live here in the first place. 

US shock-jock, Jewish extremist and Hamas MP on list of 16 banned from UK
05th May 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6225382.ece

A former member of the Ku Klux Klan, a neo-Nazi, a Hamas MP and a Jewish extremist are among 16 people named today as being banned from entering the UK. Also on the list published by the Home Office is a US “shock jock” talkshow host whose views on Islam, rape and autism have stirred controversy in America.

The 16 are among 22 people excluded in the five months to March. The Home Office has not identified the other six on security grounds.

Today's move follows changes to the law in 2005 which widened the criteria for imposing a ban to include people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.

The list includes Erich Gliebe, the leader of an American neo-Nazi group, Michael Savage (real name Michael Weiner), a radio presenter in America, Mike Guzovsky, a Jewish extremist, and Stephen “Don” Black, a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan.

Also on the list is Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, an American Baptist pastor and his daughter, Shirley, who were barred last year for their homophobic views. The two have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.

Also on the list of those banned between October and March is the Hamas MP Yunis al-Astal.

Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned. They are currently in jail.

The others are the preachers Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri al-Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi and Amir Siddique, the Muslim activist Abdul Ali Musa (previously Clarence Reams), the Hezbollah terrorist Samir al-Quntar and Nasr Javed, leader of a Kashmiri terror group.

Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told BBC Radio 5 Live that people should be free to enter the country, regardless of their views.

“If they step over the line and break the law, it's at that moment the law should be enacted, not beforehand,” he said.

“If people are keeping their odious views to themselves, that's their business. We should not be in the business of policing people's minds.”

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said that granting free speech did not provide a licence to preach hatred and that those banned had overstepped the mark with the attitudes they had expressed. She said that naming them enabled people to see the sort of unacceptable behaviour we were not willing to have in this country.

Ms Smith added: “Coming to this country is a privilege. We won't allow people into this country who are going to propagate the sort of views... that fundamentally go against our values.”

Ms Smith announced in October the tightening of rules determining who could come to the UK.

A “presumption in favour of exclusion” was introduced that meant it would be up to the individual concerned to prove they would not “stir up tension” after arrival.

The full list:

Abdullah Qadri al-Ahdal
Yunis al-Astal
Samir al-Quntar
Stephen Donald Black
Wadgy Abd el-Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim
Erich Gliebe
Mike Guzovsky
Safwat Hijazi
Nasr Javed
Abdul Ali Musa
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Artur Ryno
Amir Siddique
Pavel Skachevsky
Michael Alan Weiner

I support hamas

[Godfather77]

The UK government is not content with setting up a police state and taxing everyone to the hilt but wants to warp our children too to prepare them for a life of servitude and mass medication.   

Lessons about wife-beating at five: In the week Harriet Harman takes charge, yet another feminist initiative
05th August 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204359/In-week-Harriet-Harman-takes-charge-feminist-initiative.html

Pupils as young as five will be taught about the evils of 'wife beating' and the need to form healthy relationships. The lessons are part of a controversial drive, unveiled today, to reduce violence against women and young girls. They will include teaching boys that they must not beat their partners or any other female.

Officials confirmed that today's document - Saving Lives, Reducing Harm, Protecting the Public - is not simply a Home Office report, but is a 'cross-Government initiative'. The most eye-catching proposal in the document is the one to force schools to introduce statutory lessons in 'educating children and young people about healthy, nonviolent relationships'.

The lessons will be part of the National Curriculum and are likely to be taught in Personal, Social and Health Education classes, which are attended by children from the age of five.

The Government claims that violence against women is costing Britain an astonishing £40billion. It has emerged they are carrying out five separate reviews into the causes and how women can be better protected. This is despite evidence showing that boys and young men are more than twice as likely to fall victim to violence, and that young women are becoming increasingly aggressive.
 
In a document peppered with the language of Miss Harman's equalities-agenda, the Government says the first ever Violence Against Women and Girls strategy is in production by departments across Whitehall, and will be published this autumn.

Separately, Dr Linda Papadopoulous is carrying out a 'fact-finding review of the sexualisation of girls and links to violence'. All will report back later this year, and lead to the publication of an action plan.

Jill Kirby, of the Centre for Policy Studies, said Miss Harman and the Government should not be creating the impression violent crime is men against women, when the statistics show this is not the case. She added: 'It is young men who are most likely to be the victims of violent crime. It is a distortion to suggest otherwise. It appears that everything must be viewed through the prism of 1960s feminism.'

[Godfather77]

Worst families in Britain will be put in 'sin bins'
22 Jul 2009
Full article:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5888162/Worst-families-in-Britain-will-be-put-in-sin-bins.html

Under the Government scheme, members of “Shameless” families are given intensive 24-hour supervision to make sure children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Parents are also given help to stop them leading dysfunctional lives and to combat drug or alcohol addiction.

Around 2,000 families have gone through Family Intervention Projects, but ministers intend to increase its scope to 20,000 more in the next two years – each costing between £5,000 and £20,000.

Ministers hope expanding the scheme will reduce the number of youngster who become drawn into lives of crime because of their chaotic family lives. The projects are operating in around half of all council areas, but Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said he wanted every local authority to fund them.

[Godfather77]

March of the state spies: One in 78 adults came under state-sanctioned surveillance last year
09th August 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205419/March-state-spies-One-78-adults-came-state-sanctioned-surveillance-year.html

Britain's extraordinary march towards a surveillance state is revealed today by shock new figures. They show that one request is made every minute for officials to spy on someone's phone records or email accounts.

The number of Big Brother snooping missions by police, town halls and other public bodies has soared by 44 per cent in two years. Last year there were 504,073 new cases - an average of 1,381 a day. It is the equivalent of one adult in 78 coming under state-sanctioned surveillance.

The snoopers are using a law originally aimed at terror suspects. But their targets include people suspected of storing petrol without a licence and bringing a dog into the country without quarantining it.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said last night: 'It cannot be a justified response to the problems we face in this country that the state is spying on half a million people a year.

'The Government forgets that George Orwell's 1984 was a warning, not a blueprint.'

[matrixcutter]

March of the state spies: One in 78 adults came under state-sanctioned surveillance last year
09th August 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205419/March-state-spies-One-78-adults-came-state-sanctioned-surveillance-year.html

...

Alan Watt discussed this article in last night's RBN show:

Aug. 10, 2009
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN:
On Our Way to Serfdom Day:
"Think of the Changes Since 2001,
Planned Society, Courtesy, Sons of the Sun,
Perpetuated War Under Terrorism Lie,
Police State Forcing Us to Comply,
Foundations Well Laid, Levels Incremental,
Propaganda Adaptation Not Coincidental,
Through All Avenues of Media Who Speak with One Voice,
Overloading the Listener, Left with No Choice,
Clock is a-Ticking, Soon it will be Too Late,
With Each Ominous Dictate Mandated by State
Which Says We are the Problem because of Our Numbers,
Will Go Out with a Whimper as Sentience Slumbers"
***Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Aug. 10, 2009 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
***LISTEN / DOWNLOAD

Topics of show covered in following links:
"UN climate change deal needs more sacrifices by West, John Prescott warns" by Patrick Wintour (guardian.co.uk) - Aug. 8, 2009.
"Food crisis could force wartime rations and vegetarian diet on Britons" by Valerie Elliott (timesonline.co.uk) - Aug. 10, 2009.
"Government's green energy plan may cost 17 times more than its benefits" by Edmund Conway (telegraph.co.uk) - Aug. 10, 2009.
" 'Radical rethink' needed on food" by Mark Kinver (news.bbc.co.uk) - Aug. 10, 2009.
"Having Children Brings High Carbon Impact" by Kate Galbraith (nytimes.com) - Aug. 7, 2009.
"March of the state spies: One in 78 adults came under state-sanctioned surveillance last year" by James Slack (dailymail.co.uk) - Aug. 10, 2009.

[matrixcutter]

UK Government To Install Surveillance Cameras In Private Homes

State to spy on parents, make sure kids go to bed on time, attend school



Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, August 3, 2009

The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

No you aren’t reading a passage from George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.

Now the government is embarking on a scheme called “Family Intervention Projects” which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular “home checks” to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.

Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract.

Around 2,000 families have been targeted by this program so far and the government wants to snare 20,000 more within the next two years. The tab will be picked up by the taxpayer, with the “interventions” being funded through local council authorities.

Another key aspect of the program will see parents deemed “responsible” by the government handed the power to denounce and report bad parents who allow their children to engage in bad behavior. Such families will then be targeted for “interventions”.

Both parents and children will also be forced to sign a “behavior contract” with the government known as Home School Agreements before the start of every year, in which the state will dictate obligations that it expects to be met.

The opposition Conservative Party, who are clear favorites to win the next British election, commented that the program does not go far enough and is “too little, too late.”

Respondents to a Daily Express article about the new program expressed their shock at the totalitarian implications of what is unfolding in the United Kingdom under the guise of social services initiatives.

“Sorry, but what the hell? Why are people not up in arms about this?,” writes one, “This is a complete invasion of privacy, and it totally ignores the fact that the state does NOT own kids. It’s not up to them how parents choose to raise their children, as long as the parents do not actively harm them. Why on earth aren’t the public rioting? It’s completely anathema to basic British freedoms.”

“Excuse me!?! What an incredible intrusion into the privacy of a family! George Orwell must be spinning in his grave right now,” writes another.

“I have one comment to make: it completely violates Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Human Rights Act 1998). Has this minister and his lackies even done any basic homework on basic human rights and civil liberties? Or rather they’ve just decided to completely ignore them,” adds another.

The move to install surveillance cameras inside private homes is also on the agenda across the pond. In February 2006, Houston Chief of Police Harold Hurtt said cameras should be placed inside apartments and homes in order to “fight crime” due to there being a shortage of police officers.

“I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?” Chief Hurtt told reporters.

Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association supported the proposal, saying privacy concerns would take a back seat to many people who would, “appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them.”

If such programs come to fruition and are implemented on a mass scale then the full scope of George Orwell’s depiction of a totalitarian society is his classic novel 1984 will have been realized.

The following passage is from Orwell’s 1984;

The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

[Berminator]

George Orwell - 1984

Orwell's final novel, 1984, is the story of one man's struggle against the ubiquitous, menacing state power ("Big Brother") that tries to dictate nearly every aspect of human life. The novel is a classic in anti-utopian fiction, and a trenchant political satire that remains as relevant today as when it was first published.

Direct links to the audio files
Part I
Code:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wg5zphmby8d


Part II
Code:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kcbzhxosumm


Part III
Code:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gwgwtuyfvf4


From the Audio Section, posted by Brocke.

[Godfather77]

300 children a day added to DNA database: 400,000 under-15s on Big Brother roll
12th August 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205867/300-children-day-added-DNA-database-400-000-15s-Big-Brother-roll.html

More than 300 children a day have their DNA taken by the police and added to the national database. Already 412,670 youngsters under 15 have their genetic profiles stored. Once 15 to 17-year-olds are added, the total rises to an astonishing 1.1million, according to Freedom of Information replies revealed yesterday.

The DNA samples, from children as young as ten, are kept regardless of whether or not they were ever charged.

There are around five million people on the DNA database - making it the largest in the world. Of these, at least 850,000 are innocents who have never been convicted of any crime. On this basis, around 200,000 of the children on the database will be innocent.

The samples were taken under rules introduced by Tony Blair which allow suspects to be swabbed as soon as they are arrested.

After a crushing ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last December, police will no longer be allowed to store the DNA of innocents indefinitely. But the Home Office's proposals for complying with the ruling have proved highly controversial.

Any child convicted of a serious offence will remain on the database indefinitely - as will adults - but youngsters convicted of only one minor offence will be deleted when they turn 18. Those wrongly accused of a minor crime will also have their DNA removed at 18. but children accused, but not convicted, of a serious crime will have theirs stored for 12 years.

There will also be a 'two strikes and you're out' policy, where children accused twice of minor offences will remain on the database for at least six years - even if they are cleared both times.

[EvadingGrid]

Disgusting

It is so obvious they intend to get everyone on a DNA Database.

Having worked in the past in Genetics Labs, I am rather disturbed about these developments.

[Godfather77]

Police cannot be trusted with fines, magistrates warn
17 Aug 2009
Full article:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6029134/Police-cannot-be-trusted-with-fines-magistrates-warn.html

In an extraordinary attack, the Magistrates’ Association said it is a “certainty” that officers will misuse powers because they cannot be “relied on” to handle them appropriately. The comments have been made as part of the Magistrates’ Association response to the Government’s plans to allow police to issue £60 fixed penalties for careless driving.

Police have been accused of increasingly dealing with offences using on-the-spot fines as an easy way to hit the government’s crime targets.

Magistrates are worried that the number of offences now dealt with in this way is keeping some serious offenders out of the courts. However, police leaders insisted that the use of the fines, which has risen sharply under Labour, helped to reduce paperwork and free up officers’ time.

Chris Hunt Cooke, chairman of the Magistrates’ Association road traffic committee warned against this. In his response, he said: “Regrettably, recent experience with out-of-court disposals shows that the police cannot be relied on to use them appropriately or as intended.

“Once they have been given these powers, the police will misuse them, that is a certainty, and careless driving will be generally treated as a minor offence, unless serious injury is involved.

“This is a proposal that places the convenience of the police above what is right in principle, may coerce innocent drivers into accepting a fixed penalty, and is certain generally to downgrade careless driving in terms of offence seriousness.”

Mr Hunt Cooke, a magistrate for 13 years, said the offence is a subjective matter, unlike speeding or driving with no insurance, and any judgement of how serious that is should be made in a courtroom.

He said police officers will be “prosecutor, judge and jury, deciding on guilt and then sentencing the offence” .

Hundreds of thousands of fixed penalties are handed out by police every year, including almost 1.5 million for speeding offences alone.

Police have been given increasing powers to hand out fines since Labour took power in 1997, mainly through the introduction of the penalty notice for disorder in 2004. The fines can be handed out for so-called “low-level” offending such as littering, criminal damage, being drunk and disorderly and shoplifting.

The number of such fines has increased more than three-fold from 63,639 in 2004 to 207,544 in 2007, the most recent figures available.

The Department for Transport is due to report back on its proposals to make careless driving a fixed penalty offence later this year.

It has already been criticised by taxpayer groups and motoring campaigners who warned police will take the easy option of handing out fines. They also warned minor accidents and many trivial motoring offences, such as eating, drinking or smoking at the wheel, could lead to fines.

[Godfather77]

Fears over new wireless police Taser gun that can deliver a 500v shock from 98ft away
24th August 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208656/Fears-new-wireless-police-Taser-gun-deliver-500v-shock-98ft-away.html

Police could be equipped with a new wireless Taser 'shotgun' with a range of more than three times that of current models, it was revealed today. The eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP) fires a series of barbed electrodes delivering a 20-second, 500-volt shock up to 98ft away.

Traditional Taser weapons fire two darts attached to wires and have a range of around 25ft.

Taser International, which makes both weapons, said the new model is a 'revolutionary' step that will help police immobilise suspects from much further away.  But critics said the weapon could cause 'serious injury' to the target's head and face.

The weapon, which is already on sale in the U.S., is being considered by the Home Office for use by law enforcement agencies in England and Wales.

But Amnesty International UK's arms programme director Oliver Sprague said: 'We're seriously concerned about this latest weapon by Taser.

'This is effectively a shotgun that fires electric-shock bullets.'

'Because this bullet can be fired wire-free from a standard shotgun there is a heightened risk of causing serious injury to the face and head. 'We're also concerned by the fact that these weapons will deliver an excruciatingly painful shock for 20 seconds.

'Amnesty would be very alarmed if the Home Office were to consider authorising this weapon to police officers in the UK.'

[Berminator]

Fears over new wireless police Taser gun that can deliver a 500v shock from 98ft away
24th August 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208656/Fears-new-wireless-police-Taser-gun-deliver-500v-shock-98ft-away.html

Police could be equipped with a new wireless Taser 'shotgun' with a range of more than three times that of current models, it was revealed today. The eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP) fires a series of barbed electrodes delivering a 20-second, 500-volt shock up to 98ft away.

Traditional Taser weapons fire two darts attached to wires and have a range of around 25ft.

Taser International, which makes both weapons, said the new model is a 'revolutionary' step that will help police immobilise suspects from much further away.  But critics said the weapon could cause 'serious injury' to the target's head and face.

The weapon, which is already on sale in the U.S., is being considered by the Home Office for use by law enforcement agencies in England and Wales.

But Amnesty International UK's arms programme director Oliver Sprague said: 'We're seriously concerned about this latest weapon by Taser.

'This is effectively a shotgun that fires electric-shock bullets.'

'Because this bullet can be fired wire-free from a standard shotgun there is a heightened risk of causing serious injury to the face and head. 'We're also concerned by the fact that these weapons will deliver an excruciatingly painful shock for 20 seconds.

'Amnesty would be very alarmed if the Home Office were to consider authorising this weapon to police officers in the UK.'

Tell me it's not true, plug me back into the matrix will you?

[Godfather77]

1,000 cameras 'solve one crime'
Monday, 24 August 2009
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8219022.stm

Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city's surveillance network has claimed. The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals.

In one month CCTV helped capture just eight out of 269 suspected robbers.

Nationwide, the government has spent £500m on CCTV cameras.

David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: "It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent."

He added: "CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness. "It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.

"The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV."

But Det Sup Michael Michael McNally, who commissioned the report, conceded more needed to be done to make the most of the investment. A spokesman for the Met said: "We estimate more than 70% of murder investigations have been solved with the help of CCTV retrievals and most serious crime investigations have a CCTV investigation strategy."

Officers from 11 boroughs have formed a new unit which collects and labels footage centrally before distributing them across the force and media. It has led to more than 1,000 identifications out of 5,260 images processed so far.

A Home Office spokeswoman said CCTVs "help communities feel safer". 

[matrixcutter]

1,000 cameras 'solve one crime'
Monday, 24 August 2009
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8219022.stm

Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city's surveillance network has claimed.

This sounds like it could be a reference to the occultic "thousand points of light" term.

[Godfather77]

Town halls are spying on us at tips and in car parks
05th September 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211338/Town-halls-spying-tips-car-parks.html

Dozens of councils are using number plate recognition cameras to spy on fly tippers and motorists who dodge parking fines. Figures have revealed for the first time the extent of state surveillance by town halls across the country.

One in five is using cameras originally developed for police to track stolen vehicles. The devices are secretly being installed in more than 500 sites around Britain to snoop on ordinary motorists for a variety of reasons

These include recording visits to tips, to check if families are flouting waste rules.

Cameras are also being deployed in car parks to catch drivers who haven't paid for a parking ticket and those who have no car tax.
They are linked to the DVLA driver database, allowing an almost instantaneous check of registrations. The information is being used to fine hundreds of motorists and in some cases details are being passed on to bailiffs to chase unpaid tickets.

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: 'Some of these activities should be prohibited immediately - particularly passing camera information to bailiffs. That goes far, far beyond the remit of a local council.

'This is a technology which will creep into more areas if it is allowed to, with personal information about our private travel patterns being passed around the public and private sectors - just as access to phone records was allowed to creep into local authorities and a host of other agencies.

[Godfather77]

Now Big Brother targets helpful parents as one in four Britons are to be vetted for giant child protection database
11th September 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212637/Now-Big-Brother-targets-helpful-parents-1-4-Britons-vetted-giant-new-child-protection-database.html

Parents could face a £5,000 fine for driving their children's friends to a sports event or Cub Scout meeting. They face punishment and a criminal record if they have not been vetted first by a massive new government agency.

An astonishing 11.3million people  -  one adult in four  -  are likely to come under the watchful eye of the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

Every person who comes into regular contact with children or the elderly, through work or volunteering, must be approved by ISA officials checking for criminal convictions, disciplinary action and even unproven allegations.

It goes way beyond the current Criminal Records Bureau system, which covers only 6million people.

For the first time, 300,000 school governors, dinner ladies and parents who visit schools or nurseries to read to children will be involved. It will even apply to parents who, at the request of organisations like junior football teams or the Guides, give their children's friends lifts to or from events.

If they do so without first being vetted by the ISA's 200 staff, they could be fined up to £5,000 and given a criminal record.

Registering with the ISA will cost £64 in England and Wales, although unpaid volunteers will be exempt.

Registration will be needed for activities which involve contact with children or vulnerable adults three times in a month, every month, or once overnight, as well as jobs in places such as schools, prisons and children's homes.

In a 'belt and braces' approach, everyone currently working with children and old people will have to be vetted, even if they have already been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau. Those whose jobs involve mandatory enhanced CRB checks will continue to undergo them.

An enhanced CRB check costs £36, which means that, on top of the £64 ISA fee, being cleared to work with children could cost £100.

[matrixcutter]

UK Billboards Equipped with License Plate Spy Cameras
Billboard campaign in the UK uses Minority Report style license plate recognition cameras to target advertising.
By The Newspaper
September 22, 2009



An advertising campaign in the UK began using automated number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to identify passing vehicles and create personalized advertisements. The motor oil giant Castrol UK Limited yesterday activated a set of five electronic billboards in London that flash an image of the exact type of Castrol-brand motor oil appropriate for the nearest vehicle. ”The right oil for your car is: Castrol Magnatec 5W-30 A1,” the advertisement reads for eight seconds as a Jaguar with the license plate 1DFL drives past. The roadside digital billboards, seventeen feet wide and eight feet high, are owned by Clear Channel Outdoor. Castrol’s campaign added the license scanning technology which ties into the official UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) database. The agency provides private registration information to just about any company willing to pay the desired fee. According to Castrol, this particular campaign does not store any information about what vehicles or drivers pass the sign.


“The majority of car owners have little understanding of the purpose of oil in an engine, and as a result are using oil which is not beneficial to their type and age of car, resulting in higher maintenance costs and fuel consumption,” Ali Gee, head of consultancy at Three Monkeys, Castrol’s advertising firm, explained in a statement. “Our campaign will help to convey the benefits of ensuring the use of the right oil for your car.”

ANPR cameras are used by law enforcement and private companies throughout the US and the UK with no established legal framework limiting their use. Castrol’s website offers more detailed information about a vehicle’s specifications based upon its license plate.

[Godfather77]

This would appear to be a two pronged approach to collect personal information for profit & to exert further control over teachers lives and make them political tools of this and future governments.  No doubt they'll roll this out across the rest of the public sector in the near future. 

Is it any wonder why Nu-Labour created so many new civil servants and public sector workers in the past 10 years?   

Teachers' fury over Big Brother census that even asks them what car they drive
11th October 2009
Full article;- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219595/Teachers-fury-Big-Brother-census-asks-car-drive.html

Ministers were last night accused of mounting a ‘Big Brother’ operation by asking schools to supply details of the cars driven by teachers.

The bizarre request for the make, model and registration number of vehicles is among a series of sensitive personal questions included in a new Government ‘census’ of school workers, which has been greeted with fury by teachers’ leaders.

Pilot trials of the census, ahead of the scheme’s roll-out next year by Education Secretary Ed Balls, have also included requests for staff passports, their mobile phone numbers and details of their ‘ethnicity’, ‘mother tongue’ and ‘disabilities’.

Mike Kent, the head teacher of Comber Grove Primary in Camberwell, South-East London, told yesterday how he had stared at the question in disbelief when the first census arrived in his office – and had refused to answer the most intrusive ones.

‘When my secretary saw it, her mouth dropped  in astonishment,’ said Mr Kent.

‘There are ten screens, containing 83 questions, which have to be completed for every adult working in the school. They asked us questions right down to the colour and make of cars.

'It is completely ridiculous. I suspect some of the information is being sold on to marketing companies.’

Last night, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) denied asking for car registration details and claimed that the questions must have been included by the school itself.

But a spokesman for the local authority, Southwark Council, confirmed that neither the council nor the school had added in the questions and said the form had arrived directly from Ed Balls’s department.

The DCSF then issued a second statement, saying: ‘What might have happened is that the software provider of the survey has added these questions in for other schools at their request – many schools want to collect this data for their own purposes – and they’ve left them in accidentally.’ 

[Godfather77]

Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'
Sunday 25 October 2009
Full article:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-domestic-extremists-database

Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases.

Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime.

Senior officers say domestic extremism, a term coined by police that has no legal basis, can include activists suspected of minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience.

Three national police units responsible for combating domestic extremism are run by the "terrorism and allied matters" committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). In total, it receives £9m in public funding, from police forces and the Home Office, and employs a staff of 100.

An investigation by the Guardian can reveal:

• The main unit, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), runs a central database which lists thousands of so-called domestic extremists. It filters intelligence supplied by police forces across England and Wales, which routinely deploy surveillance teams at protests, rallies and public meetings. The NPOIU contains detailed files on individual protesters who are searchable by name.

• Vehicles associated with protesters are being tracked via a nationwide system of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. One man, who has no criminal record, was stopped more than 25 times in less than three years after a "protest" marker was placed against his car after he attended a small protest against duck and pheasant shooting. ANPR "interceptor teams" are being deployed on roads leading to protests to monitor attendance.

• Police surveillance units, known as Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) and Evidence Gatherers, record footage and take photographs of campaigners as they enter and leave openly advertised public meetings. These images are entered on force-wide databases so that police can chronicle the campaigners' political activities. The information is added to the central NPOIU.

• Surveillance officers are provided with "spotter cards" used to identify the faces of target individuals who police believe are at risk of becoming involved in domestic extremism. Targets include high-profile activists regularly seen taking part in protests. One spotter card, produced by the Met to monitor campaigners against an arms fair, includes a mugshot of the comedian Mark Thomas.

• NPOIU works in tandem with two other little-known Acpo branches, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (Netcu), which advises thousands of companies on how to manage political campaigns, and the National Domestic Extremism Team, which pools intelligence gathered by investigations into protesters across the country.

Acpo's national infrastructure for dealing with domestic extremism was set up with the backing of the Home Office in an attempt to combat animal rights activists who were committing serious crimes. Senior officers concede the criminal activity associated with these groups has receded, but the units dealing with domestic extremism have expanded their remit to incorporate campaign groups across the political spectrum, including anti-war and environmental groups that have only ever engaged in peaceful direct action.

All three units divide their work into four categories of domestic extremism: animal rights campaigns; far-right groups such as the English Defence League; "extreme leftwing" protest groups, including anti-war campaigners; and "environmental extremism" such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid campaigns.

Anton Setchell, who is in overall command of Acpo's domestic extremism remit, said people who find themselves on the databases "should not worry at all". But he refused to disclose how many names were on the NPOIU's national database, claiming it was "not easy" to count. He estimated they had files on thousands of people. As well as photographs, he said FIT surveillance officers noted down what he claimed was harmless information about people's attendance at demonstrations and this information was fed into the national database.

[kellymooloo]

I live in Manchester, and recently the number of police on the street has really increased. Police have started policing the buses.
It is strange as a bus inspector will get on the bus, as will 2 or 3 police officers. They then check everyone's tickets and make sure everyone has paid (even though it is hard to sneak on, as the driver will usually see!) and remain on the bus watching you all the way into town. When they do find you have no ticket (which i have seen happen a couple times) they escort you off the bus and start taking details. This happened again a few days ago, and 2 of the police were in casual dress and one had casual dress on but also a bulletproof vest. They questioned this kid (about 15), harrassed him, and made the bus stop while they searched it (for what, i have no idea).

The point is, their presence is unnerving, and i reckon it is to get us used to them being around more and more. It is becoming a massive police state. What is wierd though about manchester, is that the police are always on buses, stopping people checking tickets, despite their being a ticket inspector getting on to do that. Surely the bus companies can police their own buses? The police waste their time doing that instead of actually doing what they are supposed to do. The tickets are like £1 each! Why are they suddenly on all the buses all the time!? Gestapo bus police! It is so we just get used to stuff like this happening.

My boyfriend was walking down the street the other day when a policeman got out his car, stopped him and asked why he had his hood up on his jumper. He entered into conversation about this and answered back "it's cold", the police guy left it at that, i think he made some snide remark. But then my boyfriend said tonight that on the same street near our house they were just stop and searching people..for no reason!! I know they have no right to that without due cause. It is frustrating as i can literally see around me changes and more and more freedoms being slowly taken away!

Aaaaagh!

Anyway, anyone else noticed that in Manchester/UK?

[matrixcutter]

DNA of protesters could be held for life
Anti-war protesters and train spotters arrested under anti-terror laws could have their DNA kept for life under Home Office plans.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 2:04PM GMT 11 Nov 2009

Innocent members of the public detained but not charged or convicted under terrorism legislation may never have their profiles wiped from the national database because they are to be treated differently to all other alleged offences.

The proposal is directed at those arrested for suspected terror offences but could apply to anyone held under a Terrorism Act.

In contrast, those innocent of any other suspected crime will be kept for a maximum of six years.

The proposals have been drawn up in the wake of a European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that a blanket policy of retaining profiles of innocent people indefinitely was illegal.

Up to a million innocent people are currently held on the national database.

As part of a climb-down, the Home Office now plans to keep the profiles of children innocent of alleged minor crimes for three years instead of the six previously proposed.

However, youngsters convicted of a minor offence will be kept on the DNA database for five years and indefinitely if they are guilty of a second offence.

Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, published revised proposals for the retention of DNA following widespread criticism of plans earlier this year that would have seen some innocent people stay on the database for 12 years.

Under the revised plans, the DNA of those arrested but not charged or convicted of terror offences will stay on the database for a minimum of six years but senior police officers will then be able to review each case every two years on national security grounds to see if continued retention is warranted.

Even under 18s arrested but not charged could have their DNA profiles stored for much longer periods than for other crimes.

Alan Campbell, the Home Office minister, said terror offences needed to be treated differently from other crimes because of the length of police investigations.

He said the proposals were "proportionate" and would ensure the right people were on the database.

"The reality is that many investigations of certain terrorist activity take a very long time indeed, and they have to be treated differently to the other offences we are talking about," he said.

In 2005, an 82-year-old Walter Wolfgang was held for making an anti-war protest during the Labour Party conference while in January this year it emerged that police were using anti-terrorism powers against trainspotters innocently taking photos of trains and noting serial numbers.

A Home Office source insisted police would have to show "clear, justifiable reasons" for holding any DNA sample beyond six years.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "The comments on released terror suspects will add fuel to fears that Home Office DNA plans are more to do with political positioning than practical policy.

"Lifelong retention subject to convoluted bi-annual review looks like a police officer's nightmare and a solicitor's dream."

The Home Office document said one in ten murders and rapes from a sample of just under 700 crimes were solved with DNA matches to people not previously convicted of an offence.

Teenagers aged 16 or 17 who are arrested but not charged or convicted of serious violence or sex offences will be kept for six years.

David Davis, the Tory MP, said: "The Government is demonstrating astonishing ignorance and intransigence over keeping innocent peoples DNA on the government database."

But Chris Sims, West Midlands Chief Constable and lead on forensic science for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "DNA is hugely important in many investigations, but the police service also believes it is vital that the DNA database remains reasonable and proportionate and retains the full confidence of the public."

-----

Related Articles

DNA of innocent still to be retained for six years
More than one in 10 people on DNA database
Police face calls to scrap thousands of DNA files

[matrixcutter]

March to ID cards costing the public quarter of a million pounds a day
The expansion of the ID cards and biometric passports programme is costing the taxpayer almost a quarter of a million pounds every day to develop.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 7:00AM GMT 16 Nov 2009

The roll out of the controversial identity cards has already cost the public millions of pounds and the bill is growing, figures show.

The daily cost to the taxpayer for the expansion of the biometric documents is now six times the size it was just three years ago.

Last month it emerged some 28 million people would have to sign up for an ID card in order to cover the cost of the scheme.

The Identity and Passport Service spent a £42 million on developing both the ID cards and biometric passport programmes in the six months since March this year.

That was equivalent of £229,508 every day – the highest amount of spending on the joint scheme so far.

In 2008/09, a total of £81.5 million was spent – the equivalent of £223,288 a day.

Between April 2003 and April 2006, a grand total of £41.1 million was spent – just £37,534 a day, although costs were always expected to rise as the programme expanded and began to roll out.

Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have pledged to scrap ID cards if they win power next year.

Overall, the scheme is expected to cost £4.5 billion over ten year, money which the Lib Dems said they would spend on extra police instead.

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman who obtained the figures, said: “It is staggering that the Government is spending a quarter of a million pounds every day on developing ID cards and biometric passports.

“Such enthusiastic spending is brazen when public finances are under such strain and opposition to the scheme is mounting.

“Ministers should explain exactly what this money is being lavished on. It is no good to pretend they do not know what ID cards cost.

“Any taxpayer’s money spent on ID cards is wasted – they will not fight terrorism, cut crime or halt illegal working.

“The Government should put an end to the ID cards fiasco and use the huge amount of money saved to put 10,000 more police on the street.”

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “An absolute fortune of taxpayers’ money continues to be ploughed into large projects that the public neither want nor need.

"People see ID cards as a wasteful invasion of their privacy, and yet the Government seems intent on bouldering on in the face of both public opposition and dire public finances.

"For this figure to keep rising is both financially unsustainable and politically unwise.”

Official costing published last month showed some £835 million is expected to be spent over the next decade on programme specific to ID cards.

With cards costing £30 each, that means some 28 million card carriers would be needed to cover that part of the bill alone.

-----

Related Article

Half the population must have ID card to pay for scheme, claim Tories

[Lisbeth]

Everyone aware of these civil rights erosions should email Brown, your local MP or/and the MP for the relevant department.  Their emails are easy to find - just google their names.  I often send emails complaining.   It probably won't change anything but at least they know people are aware of what's going on and hopefully, eventually enough people will become aware and protest en masse.

[mehevin]

I disagree that is one sure way of getting your name on a nice database somewhere without actually making any difference. What we really should be doing is going out on the streets, posting leaflets though doors, or handing them out, and letting people know what is happening and how far it has really gone, even if you convince a small amount of people it will be more productive than email your mp. 

[mehevin]

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/britains-new-interne.html

Britain's new Internet law -- as bad as everyone's been saying, and worse. Much, much worse.
The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it's perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the "three-strikes" rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the net if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement, without proof or evidence or trial), as well as a plan to beat the hell out of the video-game industry with a new, even dumber rating system (why is it acceptable for the government to declare that some forms of artwork have to be mandatorily labelled as to their suitability for kids? And why is it only some media? Why not paintings? Why not novels? Why not modern dance or ballet or opera?).

So it's bad. £50,000 fines if someone in your house is accused of filesharing. A duty on ISPs to spy on all their customers in case they find something that would help the record or film industry sue them (ISPs who refuse to cooperate can be fined £250,000).

But that's just for starters. The real meat is in the story we broke yesterday: Peter Mandelson, the unelected Business Secretary, would have to power to make up as many new penalties and enforcement systems as he likes. And he says he's planning to appoint private militias financed by rightsholder groups who will have the power to kick you off the internet, spy on your use of the network, demand the removal of files or the blocking of websites, and Mandelson will have the power to invent any penalty, including jail time, for any transgression he deems you are guilty of. And of course, Mandelson's successor in the next government would also have this power.

What isn't in there? Anything about stimulating the actual digital economy. Nothing about ensuring that broadband is cheap, fast and neutral. Nothing about getting Britain's poorest connected to the net. Nothing about ensuring that copyright rules get out of the way of entrepreneurship and the freedom to create new things. Nothing to ensure that schoolkids get the best tools in the world to create with, and can freely use the publicly funded media -- BBC, Channel 4, BFI, Arts Council grantees -- to make new media and so grow up to turn Britain into a powerhouse of tech-savvy creators.

    Lobby organisation The Open Rights Group is urging people to contact their MP to oppose the plans.

    "This plan won't stop copyright infringement and with a simple accusation could see you and your family disconnected from the internet - unable to engage in everyday activities like shopping and socialising," it said.

    The government will also introduce age ratings on all boxed video games aimed at children aged 12 or over.

    There is, however, little detail in the bill on how the government will stimulate broadband infrastructure.

[Godfather77]

UK surveillance plan to go ahead
Monday, 9 November 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8350660.stm

The Home Office says it will push ahead with plans to ask communications firms to monitor all internet use. Ministers confirmed their intention despite concerns and opposition from some in the industry.

The proposals include asking firms to retain information on how people use social networks such as Facebook.

Some 40% of respondents to the Home Office's consultation opposed the plans - but ministers say communication interception needs to be updated.

The Home Office says it wants to change the law to compel communication service providers (CSPs) to collect and retain records of communications from a wider range of internet sources, from social networks through to chatrooms and unorthodox methods, such as within online games.

Ministers say that they do not want to create a single government-owned database and only intend to ask CSPs to hold a record of a contact, rather than the actual contents of what was said. 

Police and other agencies would then be able to ask CSPs for information on when a communication was sent and between whom. In theory, law enforcement agencies will be able to link that information to specific devices such as an individual's smartphone or laptop.

The proposals are technically challenging, as they would require a CSP to sort and organise all third-party traffic coming and going through their systems. The estimated £2bn bill for the project includes compensation for the companies involved.

Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner responsible for overseeing the protection of private information, told the Home Office that while he recognised that the police needed to use communication data to stop crime, this in itself was not a justification to collect all possible data passing through the internet.

[EvadingGrid]

* EvadingGrid looks on in horror at it all . . .

This is exactly the sort of state tyranny that I despise.

[lord edward coke]

BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely.

There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent.

Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology". Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.

The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the "global baggage of empire" was linked to soccer violence by "racist and xenophobic white males". He claimed the English "propensity for violence" was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were "potentially very aggressive".

In the past 10 years I have collected reports of many instances of draconian punishments, including the arrest and criminal prosecution of children, for thought-crimes and offences against political correctness.

Countryside Restoration Trust chairman and columnist Robin Page said at a rally against the Government's anti-hunting laws in Gloucestershire in 2002: "If you are a black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you." Page was arrested, and after four months he received a letter saying no charges would be pressed, but that: "If further evidence comes to our attention whereby your involvement is implicated, we will seek to initiate proceedings." It took him five years to clear his name.

Page was at least an adult. In September 2006, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher's first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her: "It's racist, you're going to get done by the police!" Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours. She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge. The school was said to be investigating what further action to take, not against the teacher, but against Stott. Headmaster Anthony Edkins reportedly said: "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark. We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form."

A 10-year-old child was arrested and brought before a judge, for having allegedly called an 11-year-old boya "Paki" and "bin Laden" during a playground argument at a primary school (the other boy had called him a skunk and a Teletubby). When it reached the court the case had cost taxpayers pound stg. 25,000. The accused was so distressed that he had stopped attending school. The judge, Jonathan Finestein, said: "Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness? There are major crimes out there and the police don't bother to prosecute. This is nonsense."

Finestein was fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders, as in those witch-hunt trials where any who spoke in defence of an accused or pointed to defects in the prosecution were immediately targeted as witches and candidates for burning.

Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned.

A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to "celebrate diversity", the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia.

Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children.

There have been innumerable cases in recent months of people in schools, hospitals and other institutions losing their jobs because of various religious scruples, often, as in the East Germany of yore, not shouted fanatically from the rooftops but betrayed in private conversations and reported to authorities. The crime of one nurse was to offer to pray for a patient, who did not complain but merely mentioned the matter to another nurse. A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class, faces the sack for seeking support from her church. A private email from her to other members of the church asking for prayers fell into the hands of school authorities.

Permissiveness as well as draconianism can be deployed to destroy socially accepted norms and values. The Royal Navy, for instance, has installed a satanist chapel in a warship to accommodate the proclivities of a satanist crew member. "What would Nelson have said?" is a British newspaper cliche about navy scandals, but in this case seems a legitimate question. Satanist paraphernalia is also supplied to prison inmates who need it.

This campaign seems to come from unelected or quasi-governmental bodies controlling various institutions, which are more or less unanswerable to electors, more than it does directly from the Government, although the Government helps drive it and condones it in a fudged and deniable manner.

Any one of these incidents might be dismissed as an aberration, but taken together - and I have only mentioned a tiny sample; more are reported almost every day - they add up to a pretty clear picture.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/thought-police-muscle-up-in-britain/story-e6frg6zo-1225700363959

[Godfather77]

Frustrated air passenger arrested under Terrorism Act after Twitter joke about bombing airport
18th January 2010
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244091/Man-arrested-Twitter-joke-bombing-airport-Terrorism-Act.html

An air passenger was arrested under the Terrorism Act and held in a police cell for seven hours after joking on Twitter he would blow an airport 'sky high' if his flight was delayed.

He was held under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of conspiring to create a bomb hoax and questioned for seven hours.  His Twitter post was deleted and his laptop, iPhone and home computer confiscated. 

He also been banned from Robin Hood airport for life and suspended from his job while an internal investigation is launched.

Civil liberties campaigner Tessa Mayes said: 'Making jokes about terrorism is considered a thought crime, mistakenly seen as a real act of harm or intention to commit harm. 'The police's actions seem laughable and suggest desperation in their efforts to combat terrorism, yet they have serious repercussions for all of us.

In a democracy, our right to say what we please to each other should be non-negotiable, even on Twitter.'

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: 'A male was arrested on 13 January for comments made on a social networking site. He has been bailed pending further investigations.'

[Godfather77]

Big Brother cranks it up another level.

Military-style spy planes 'to be used to target civilians in the UK'
23rd January 2010
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245446/Military-style-spy-planes-used-target-civilians-UK.html

Unmanned drones similar to those used in Afghanistan are set to be used in Britain to spy on drivers, campaigners, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, it was revealed today.

A group of government agencies led by Kent Police has commissioned arms manufacturer BAE systems to adapt military-style planes for civilian use.  The consortium aims to have the drones operating in British skies in time for the 2012 Olympics.
 
Previously, Kent police have said the drone scheme was intended for use over the English Channel to monitor shipping and detect immigrants crossing from France.

However reports suggest their use could be far more widespread - including detecting theft from cash machines, preventing theft of tractors and monitoring antisocial driving.

The consortium also suggested the drones could be used by councils to combat 'fly-posting, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, abnormal loads, waste management'.

Five other police forces have signed up to the scheme, which could pave the way for countrywide adoption of the technology for surveillance, monitoring and evidence gathering.

[Godfather77]

European court rules stop and search illegal
January 13, 2010
Full article:- http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6984942.ece

The Strasbourg court ruled yesterday that Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 violated individual freedoms guaranteeing the right to private life. The court criticised the arbitrary nature of the power and also the way in which its use was authorised.

Under Section 44, the Home Secretary can authorise police to make random stop and searches in a designated area for up to 28 days, after which the power is renewable.

The case was brought by Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton, who were stopped by police while on their way to a demonstration outside an arms fair at the ExCeL centre in Docklands, London, in September 2003.

Ms Quinton, a journalist from London, was ordered to stop filming despite showing her press card, while Mr Gillan, also from London, who was riding his bicycle, was only allowed to go on his way after 20 minutes. They were awarded £30,400 in costs. 

The court said that the power to search an individual’s clothing and belongings in public involved an element of humiliation that was a clear interference with the right to privacy.

The judges criticised the way in which the power was authorised, noting that there was no requirement that the power should be considered necessary, only expedient. They were also concerned that the decision to stop and search someone was “based exclusively on the hunch or professional intuition of the police officer”.

In a statement, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “As a result of the government decision to seek to appeal the ruling and following legal advice the current authorisation to use Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 remains in force in specified locations across London.

[Wrexsoul]

^

This is only light consolation, it looks like they're determined to use stop and search.

And so the police state continues...

[Jake49]

I tried to stop a fight breaking out in Newcastle.

A fight broke out, I was punched twice in the back and side of my head.

Police turned up as 2 guys were attacking me. Among about 8 other people involved.

I was arrested, put in a cell for 6 hours without having my right read to me. When I asked why I was being held I was told, "You aren't in the position to ask questions"...

The next day, I was told I was too intoxicated to have my rights read to me, so they didn't have to until I had spent time in a cell. Even though an officer that night told me, "Alright, you don't have to use big words, just let us handle this and find out what's happened".... All I said to him was, "Officer, I can articulate very clearly what happened here"...

The next morning after they read me my rights. They said I was to have my finger prints digitally scanned, my personal details and photo taken and my DNA taken with a swab in my mouth.
I refused, saying that I had cooperated far enough, having paced around a small cell for the last 6 hours trying to rationalise the way I had been treated and why I had ended up in a cell. When I refused to be processed further 2 other police officers stepped towards me and one said, "We have several methods to take these by force and things can become very unpleasant... I suggest you cooperate further and have these done"...

I was tired and frustrated... Had no knowledge of how to handle this, so I went along with it.

I was then told I could pay £80 now, or face a court case where I could challenge it.

I took the court case.

Stayed in contact with the police department for the first month, being advised by PC Rose (won't give more details) that I would receive summons and information within 2 weeks.

3 months later, I had left my university course and was seeing a counselor because I was really struggling in other areas of my life. I received a letter to say that I did not appear at my court hearing.

I contacted them and said I wasn't even summoned. To which they then advised me the hearing never took place on the supposed hearing I had missed because other cases went on too long that day. I was advised to travel to another City and process a Statutory Declaration to have another hearing.

2 months later, I received a letter advising me to visit that cities Magistrates court to process the application further. In this time I had work lined up which paid me £1775... So I had to choose one or the other. So I worked instead.

Now I have paid a £160 and have a criminal record (which I've never had)... and all my details, picture, DNA, finger prints are on government records.

I'm 26, struggling to get several things up and running. Over the last 8 years I've worked with kids summer schools, homeless people, people with serious addictions, youth, people in serious debt... adding up to thousands of hours with several charity organisations. I've sacrificed so many weekends, so much time, opportunities... not to feel good about myself or get any praise, but because I have enjoyed how rewarding and meaningful it is.. and in my own personal development, I have found a great deal of freedom and Restoration within myself directly connected with giving and contributing for others.
I still have a list of negative things I can say about myself that make me far from perfect... I don't think I'm anything special. But I can stand in a court and look around the room at everyone in there knowing that I contribute more good things to my country, community and world than every other blind fool in that room. Yet they are the ones who have the power to belittle me, and tell me I'm a criminal.

As it stands now... the system makes it so hard for me to challenge the "offenses" they accuse me of. I'm drained of energy from it... I have enough things working against me in this life, like walking against a current in a river in many areas of my life. I don't think I have the energy to contest this further. And even if I get my court case... who's to say I won't get further fines.. I just don't know what to do about it.

Britain is rapidly turning into an Orwellian Police State... They're the criminals not me...

[Jake49]

continued from above post...

"Britain is rapidly turning into an Orwellian Police State"... Police? They're not police, they're criminals working for criminals. No doubt there are many "police" who have good intentions and do their jobs honestly.... I actually spoke with the officer taking my DNA, Finger Prints and Photo about politics, God/religion, Youth, Crime, drugs, nightlife lifestyles... he was a cool guy. But what they're part of is sick. But that's the world we're in...

In the 6 hours I spent in the cell, I could write 10 thousand words with ease, with the things I thought about... the irrationality of what I experienced led to all sorts of subjects I pondered... even the experience of being in a small inescapable cell gave a tangible taste of what some people experience physically, emotionally, mentally... trapped, imprisoned... that I am too in my own way. Anyway... I'll spare you further rambling. But it was an interesting experience too, and I felt new angles of gratitude and freedom in there too. But that might be because I'm a little bit odd though hahah

[Godfather77]

DNA database 'is causing suicides', MPs are warned
04th February 2010
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1248358/DNA-database-causing-suicides-MP-warned.html

Keeping profiles of the innocent on the DNA database causes immense distress and has even led to suicide, the pioneer of fingerprinting technology warned MPs yesterday.

Sir Alec Jeffreys, who invented the use of DNA to fight crime, said storing these records could lead to 'an unfair presumption of guilt'.

The DNA database for England and Wales holds over five million profiles with around one million having no criminal conviction.

Sir Alec said he had been frequently contacted by innocent people on the database to say how distressed they were and he called for their records to be removed immediately.

In July 2008 Robert Chong, 41, committed suicide because of the 'shame' of being put on the database after he was falsely accused of exposing himself to a woman, he said.

A cursory check of CCTV tapes would have demonstrated his innocence. His only interaction with the woman had been when she swore at him on the station concourse.  Mr Chong, 41, later became withdrawn and told his mother: 'I'm on the criminal database now, I have got a record,' before killing himself in July 2008.

Sir Alec said: 'I want the balance to be struck. I have not heard anything about the rights of the innocent victim, and the distress at being branded a criminal.

'Innocent people on the database are being used inefficiently to solve future crimes - and that goes against their civil rights.'

'If you took one million profiles off the database and replaced them with one million randomly selected profiles, would detections rise?'

Sir Alec also criticised placing DNA taken from children on the database as 'heavy-handed and disproportionate'.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that holding the profiles of innocent people indefinitely was disproportionate and a breach of privacy rights.

The Government proposes to hold innocent profiles for six years, but Sir Alec believes this is excessive. He said: 'I want to get rid of the DNA of innocent people [from the database] it is as simple as that.'

The DNA database had developed 'sinister mission creep' which “had taken it away from being a crime fighting tool to one that threatens to undermine public confidence' he said since it was set up.

[Godfather77]

Parents Angry Over CCTV In School Toilets
Tuesday March 09, 2010
Full article:- http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100309/tuk-parents-angry-over-cctv-in-school-to-45dbed5.html

Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school's toilets.

Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.

Some parents are furious at what they say is a "total invasion of privacy" and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.

One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands.

She told the Sunday Mercury: "She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl's toilets but we didn't know anything about it.

"You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision."

Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.  But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.

Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.

The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children's privacy.

Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.  Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school.

In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent's consent.  The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents.

More examples:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7851282.stm

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1181082_school_cctv_seized_after_kids_filmed_changing

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/schools-may-fingerprint-six-million-children-443932.html

[Godfather77]

DNA from millions of newborn babies is secretly stored on NHS database
24th May 2010
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1280891/NHS-creates-secret-database-babies-blood-samples-parental-consent.html

DNA taken from millions of newborn babies is quietly being stored by hospitals without proper parental consent.  The blood samples, taken in heel-prick tests that check for serious conditions, can be accessed by police, coroners and medical researchers, Freedom of Information Act requests reveal.

Despite Government guidelines advising hospitals to destroy the DNA after five years, some facilities have kept them on file for more than 20 years – prompting fears that a covert database is being created.

Campaigners claim the 32-page leaflets - explaining that newborns’ DNA will be stored – handed to new mothers, does not constitute consent for hospitals to carry out further research. Nor, they say, does it make clear the samples could be accessed by the police to identify people involved in crimes.

And, although the DNA of each child is stored anonymously, The UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre, which oversees the use of samples, say they could be linked to hospital admissions and the child could be identified that way.

The samples can also be accessed by private medical companies and have been used for genetic research and mass screening for diseases such as HIV in babies’ mothers.

According to FOI requests, four million samples are currently being held at four centres in the country. One million have been in storage dating from 1984 at Central Manchester University Hospitals Trust. It has about 250,000 in its laboratory which it plans to store indefinitely. Cambridge University Hospitals Trust stores 400,000 samples at Endex archives in Ipswich and 62,800 in its labs – they are kept for 18 years.

About 120,000 samples are taken every year at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, a practice it began in 1990. It confirmed that it had occasionally handed samples, which it keeps for 20 years, to coroners but not to the police. In order to obtain access to an individual sample, officers would need to obtain a court order.

Campaigners have urged Andrew Lansley, the new Secretary of State for Health, to launch an inquiry into the practice.

[matrixcutter]

'Big Brother's' little brother: Illegal snooping by town hall staff is up sixfold
By Jack Doyle
Last updated at 3:33 AM on 5th June 2010

More and more town hall bureaucrats have been caught snooping on private details held on a giant 'Big Brother' tax and benefits database.

Instances of unlawful hacking of the Customer Information System, which belongs to the Department of Work and Pensions and holds the personal records of 85 million people, have increased sixfold in a single year to more than two a week.

Council staff have looked at accounts belonging to their friends, family members, neighbours and even celebrities.


Sneaky: Council workers have been reading through supposedly private details of friends, family members and celebrities

Some were dismissed as a result  -  but two thirds were let off with little more than a slap on the wrist.

Astonishingly, the DWP does not hold details of the number of its own staff caught doing the same thing.

This means the real level of unauthorised access could be much higher.

The revelations raised major questions about the number of people allowed to access the system.

In addition to workers at 445 local authorities across the UK, it is open to some 80,000 DWP employees and 60,000 workers from other government departments.

Civil liberties campaigners called for drastic cuts in those allowed to view the data.

Alex Deane, Director of Big Brother Watch, said: 'This just goes to show that our private data is not safe with councils  -  the less they have of it, the better.'

The database holds a record of every single individual issued with a National Insurance number, including those who have died, each containing up to 9,800 pieces of information.

That includes details of their ethnicity, address, and tax status.

In addition, the system records the full income details of anyone receiving any kind of benefit, including 11.5million state pensioners, 2.65 million people on incapacity benefit and four million who claim pension credit or some kind of income support.

Freedom of Information Act requests revealed 124 security breaches by council staff last year, including those found looking at the accounts of friends, family, neighbours, or celebrities.

That is a sharp increase from just 20 in 2008/9. Of those 26 were dismissed and eight resigned during the disciplinary process. But 37 were given a written or verbal warning and 43 received no reprimand at all.

Officials at the department were so concerned about the scale of the problem that they contacted councils last year to warn of sanctions. But the scale of the problem increased regardless.

Organisations caught up in last year's suspected breaches included London's Islington, Barnet, Lambeth, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Westminster councils as well as Town Hall staff in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Sunderland, Liverpool, Bradford, Middlesbrough, Cambridge and Plymouth.

Prof Peter Sommer, an information security expert from the London School of Economics said: 'It is bizarre and deeply unfortunate that DWP appear not to hold these essential security breach statistics.'

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: 'DWP thoroughly deals with the risk to CIS by the small number of employees who commit unauthorised access.

'DWP works closely with local authorities to investigate suspicions of unauthorised access enabling managers to consider disciplinary action where appropriate.'

• Every Google web search could be stored for up to two years under a controversial EU proposal that has the backing of more than 300 Euro-MPs.

'Written Declaration 29' is intended to be used as an early warning system to stop paedophiles.

But civil liberty groups say it is 'completely unjustifiable' intrusion into citizens' privacy  -  and would not be effective because most paedophiles operate in chatrooms and private communication.

-----

More...

JANET STREET PORTER: There is no hiding from the high-tech snoopers
Tories accused of U-turn on NHS database vow

[Godfather77]

No wonder the Ministry of Justice fought hard to prevent this being released.  To think someone was paid with taxpayers money to write this manual makes my blood run cold.   

'Disturbing' secret manual reveals brutal methods used on youths held in child prisons
18th July 2010
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1295669/Child-prisons-Disturbing-secret-manual-reveals-brutal-methods-used-youth-offenders.html

A government manual instructing prison staff on how to inflict pain on teenage inmates was today labelled 'state authorised child abuse'.

The Ministry of Justice was forced to release details of its approved 'restraint and self-defence techniques' for children in secure training centres after a lengthy freedom of information battle. 

The secret manual, Physical Control In Care, authorises staff to 'use an inverted knuckle into the trainee's sternum and drive inward and upward.' It adds: 'Continue to carry alternate elbow strikes to the young person's ribs until a release is achieved.'  The document, written in 2005 but classified as secret, also tells staff to 'drive straight fingers into the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area.' 

Instructions to staff warn that the techniques risk giving children a 'fracture to the skull' and 'temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture to eyeball or detached retina'. The guidance, designed to cope with unruly children, also acknowledges that the measures could cause asphyxia.

The campaign for publication began following the deaths of Gareth Myatt and Adam Rickwood. Gareth, 15, died while being held down by three staff at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Warwickshire. he choked on his own vomit and died.  In the same year, 2004, 14-year-old Adam, from Burnley, hanged himself at the Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in County Durham.

Phillip Noyes, director of strategy and development at the NSPCC, said: 'These shocking revelations graphically illustrate the cruel and degrading violence inflicted at times on children in custody.

'On occasions these restraint techniques have resulted in children suffering broken arms, noses, wrists and fingers. Painful restraint is a clear breach of children's human rights against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in society and does not have a place in decent society.'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the techniques were used 'very infrequently'.