"Possessing" Information Can Now Brand You A Terrorist (United Kingdom)

[CGowen]

"Possessing" Information Can Now Brand You A Terrorist

By Darryl Mason

The Anarchists' Cookbook, like the many widely available CIA sabotage manuals (an illustrated version was distributed to civilians in Nicaragua during the 1980s), contains recipes for making explosives. The book has been out of mainstream circulation for years. But in the UK, a 17 year was caught with a copy of the Anarchists' Cookbook in his possession. He's now been charged as a terrorist.

The boy wasn't charged with attempting to carry out an act of terrorism, or even plotting an act of terrorism. He was charged because he had a book. Obviously the wrong book. But a book, all the same.

Philip K Dick's concept of pre-crime - arresting someone before they even attempt to break the law - is now a rock solid reality in the UK, the US and Australia, thanks to the vaguely defined sprawl of anti-terror laws.

...

http://yournewreality.blogspot.com/2007/10/police-state-uk-teenager-charged-with.html



A British teenager who is accused of possessing material for terrorist purposes has appeared in court.

It is alleged he had a copy of the "Anarchists' Cookbook", containing instructions on how to make home-made explosives. The teenager faces two charges under the Terrorism Act 2000. The first charge relates to the possession of material for terrorist purposes in October last year. The second relates to the collection or possession of information useful in the preparation of an act of terrorism.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7030096.stm

[JuniperLea]

1. So, someone could send you an email

Or a snail mail of something such as this, or break into your house and plant it, and you could be arrested because it's in your possession. Can the thought police be far behind?

[EVDebs]

2. Gives new meaning to having your memory erased ! eom

[SteppingRazor]

7. Particularly idiotic becuase the Anarchist's Cookbook is available on dozens of Web sites...

free to download. http://www.anarchistcookbookz.com/ is just one example.


So, now that I posted that link, can I expect the door to get kicked in any second?

[JuniperLea]

10. KNOCK KNOCK

Beware men in black~!

Don't report this, agents of fortune!!!

[rodeodance]

3. whow. just whow.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

4. they should round up all those books, put them in a big pile, and BURN "EM!

:nuke:

[Sequoia]

11. I see what you mean

May 10, 1933 - An event unseen since the Middle Ages occurs as German students from universities formerly regarded as among the finest in the world, gather in Berlin and other German cities to burn books with "unGerman" ideas. Books by Freud, Einstein, Thomas Mann, Jack London, H.G. Wells and many others go up in flames as they give the Nazi salute.

[rodeodance]

5. well, cheney has his doctrine of pre-emptive war---this is the same reasoning.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. How Orwellian: A Thought Crime!

[rodeodance]

9. I do not think this is even a thought crime (but very little info given)

[rodeodance]

8. A second 17-year-old who is facing similar charges has already been remanded in custody

[hobbit709]

12. It's a good thing that the powers that be

can't tell what I think of them. What I've said is nothing compared to what I think.

[Sequoia]

13. Pre-Crime?

<snip>

Minority Report and the Concept of Pre-Crime

Spielberg's film, like Dick's story, envisions a society in which people are arrested for crimes they have not yet committed. How can the government know they will commit future crimes? Three "pre-cogs" - genetic freaks with pre-cognition, the power to see the future - say so.

According to the government, the pre-cogs are infallible. For them, the future is as clear as the present - perhaps clearer, for they can see inside private houses, and into private lives and thoughts. Their perfect knowledge of the future means police never arrest the wrong guy. Law enforcement begins to operate on a theory of "pre-crime" - catching the perpetrators before they strike.

<snap>
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20030415_segal.html