UK's top snoop gets finked out by her neighbours
Live by the snitch, die by the snitch.
If you want to rat out your neighbours, allow the home secretary to enumerate the ways. Do you know someone who claims more from the state than they're entitled to? Who is "picking the pockets of law-abiding taxpayers"? Not politicians over-egging their allowances, obviously, but "benefit thieves". If so, call 0800 854 440 now. "We're closing in with hidden cameras. We're closing in with every means at our disposal."What a perfect revenge on the arch snooperDo they own more than one mobile phone? Then call 0800 789 321. "Terrorists need communication. They often collect and use many pay-as-you-go mobile phones, as well as swapping Sim cards and handsets."
No mobile phones? What about if they're "hanging around"? Or, as the Home Office-funded radio advertisement puts it: "How can you tell if they're a normal everyday person or a terrorist? The answer is that you don't have to. If you call the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321, the specialist officers you speak to will analyse the information. They'll decide if and how to follow it up. You don't have to be sure. If you suspect it, report it."
It's such a lovely turn of phrase, that. If you suspect it, report it. Don't wait for evidence. Or question your own prejudices. If someone's not a "normal everyday person" exactly like you, then they could well be a member of al-Qaida. What flawless logic that is.
the latest
latest episodes
I loved this story, it was a bit soured by finding out that the snitches reported it to the Leader Of The Opposition first to maximise the political capital to be gained.
The real issue may well be lost in the ensuing mud slinging match.
It would be interesting to determine if here sister is declaring income on her tax return...
The UK seems to be scary nowadays. It's almost as if George Orwell's 1984 is actually becoming fact. It's even the same country (presumably). That people can be so blind...
This comes just after the start of a bill which means that anyone taking a photo of a policeman could be arrested as a terrorist! It is getting absolutely ridiculous now, I mean where will people in power stop playing on the fears of the public and just stand up and say we got some stuff wrong, I'm sorry. Rather than creating a whole load of new rules to try and right their own wrong doings.
Problem is you get a lot of stupid people that believe that doing these kind of things prevents "terror", or that snooping on "benefit cheats" is a good thing.
It always reminds me of the false logic of the nuclear deterrent. This was best illustrated in the Simpsons when Homer wishes to buy Lisa rock which prevents tiger attacks (it was the bears/immigration episode).
Too many cell phones means your a terrorist? I don't get the logic there. What am I missing?
Zombie: You haven't heard of the Great Mobile Phone Shop conspiracy? It's all a front for Al Qaeda. In all seriousness, it's more that to avoid phone logging you'd want to frequently swap your number to be harder to track. This does rather depend on the targets using phones.
If I was doing it I'd use multiple proxied encrypted IMs that I attempted to hide in an apparently innocuous data-stream (theoretically, occasional errors in a bittorrent transmission might be good), but there we are. Apparently technical field craft is not that great in most terrorist organisations. Lucky, I guess, but a bit irritating if you like elegance in implementation separated from the purpose of that implementation.
I'm kind of surprised that this nonsense is continuing after Tony Blair's departure. I'd always thought that Britain was playing along with America's Al-Qaeda fears and was looking for any excuse to say "Well, that was fun, America, but I hear my mom calling me." I'm kind of baffled that they've gone batshit crazy instead, far worse than us.
I loved this story, it was a bit soured by finding out that the snitches reported it to the Leader Of The Opposition first to maximise the political capital to be gained.
They had to bring in the papers. It was reported to the Standards Commisioner twice, but he did nothing until it got in the news.
"Don't suspect a friend, report him!"
Now where have I heard that before...
As a UK resident, I have to say I've never seen any of these laws enforced, or heard any of these advertisements on the radio. The wording feels especially jarring, like it's been simplified or paraphrased in order to fit the message the writer is trying to put across. Not convinced, personally.
Actually, when they reported it the Opposition their advice was to tell the media. Professional.
I don't like Jacqui Smith any more than the next guy, but this story is stupidly overblown. MP's who need to have a place in London get an allowance for their "second home", she used this allowance for her family home instead of the London one because she spends most of her time in London (She is the Home Secretary after all, a Cabinet member- how realistic is it that she really spends the alleged "2-3 days a week" in the capital city?)
#1 sometimes you gotta use the leverage someone else provides.
# 7 There are lots of Blair holdovers in the Gordon government--Jack Straw, Hazel Blears, Harriet Harman, Jacqui Smith, to name a few--so it's just more of the same old high-handedness passing itself off as high-mindedness.
I don't envy the British having to choose between Newish Labour and the Tories. How the Lib Dems can consistently fail to pick up on the obvious opportunity is mind-boggling.
good old anti-cannabis crusader Jaqui is one cow over here that deserves to be called the "other C word"
I'm very glad to see somebody is Watching the Watchers. We need more of this, both in the UK and US.
I have two mobile phones that I carry around all the time, a basic Nokia that is provided by work (reliable and easy to use) and my own (HTC Touch Diamond geeky and flash). I also hate politicians and speed cameras and crowds, oh dear, am I a terrorist or a psychopath?
#16 you're clearly that new specification designated in the Anti-Terror and Fearful Acts Act 2008 - a psychoterropath. The key point that marks you out as such is that easily identifiable phrase "... , oh dear, ..." which is contained only in the english language manuals distributed in institutions for the correction of insanity, and only then to card-holding members of bloodthirsty revenge organisations bent on the destruction of society.
Everyone else would say "Crowds. [Full stop] Oh dear. [Full stop / exclamation mark].
You've blown your cover - run.
The fact that there is a provable 100% correlation between terrorist activity and occupation of the "terrorist" population's land seems to escape everyone "in charge". And the admissions the US was wrong on WMD are coming thick and fast.
I think the brits have a gene, or a theme, that encourages Orwellian behaviour (he himself was no angel). They like dancing with the devil.
But mainly, so that they can kick him in the nuts and call him names.
Generally, I have a feeling the insouciance towards authority and the lack of respect play well to the average Brit's safety.
But let's punish Jacqui Smith, because she has factually been ripping us off.
I can haz dirt on David Miliband? If she's the cancer in the UK's body politic, he's the Ebola virus trying to infect the rest of the world. If I were Gordon Brown, I'd keep my bedroom door locked at night.
Oh god, the irony, it's too much. I could pray to someone's God and never get this much from it!
The irony...sweet, sweet irony. May I get diabetis from this, I could die happy.
Seriously, the UK is.mirroring.1984. How many people, how many times does it need to be said before someone over there listens and does something about it? They need to string this woman up from the nearest talking CCTV pole, along with the rest of her batshit crazy party as a public service, and leave her to rot. Then go Oliver Cromwell on their remains. Society can never truly be free if finks like this get their way, they create a society of fear & paranoia, where no one feels safe from the eyes of others.
Truth is obsolete. Guilt is declared as inescapable upon denunciation. However dubious or damning the claim was, due process used to be required. Removing that quaint relic makes such anon denunciations more cost effective. It makes a certain kind of world "safer" too. Just not one most of us want to live in.
is there such a thing as national character?
Miliband dirt:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1151892/New-questions-David-Milibands-property-empire.html
After hearing about the British nanny state videotaping everyone buying alcohol, I thought it's about time for people to form groups to monitor politicians.
Someone should set up a site where people can volunteer for an hour at a time to follow and video-tape various politicians. You would need 24 people for non-stop coverage.
They think surveillance is good enough for the little people, then it's good enough for them. Let's see how they like every detail of their lives on display. How often they see their mistress, how often they go to the pub, what type of snacks they buy at the grocery, etc.
screw that! Any UK politico should be required to pee in a cup twice a day for starters.
If someone's not a "normal everyday person" exactly like you, then they could well be a member of al-Qaida.
Well that's every politician then.
@#11 - They're mainly around London. And they are phrased like that.
As for being enforced, it's kind of hard to tell. Would anyone actually phone the number?
@11 - the transcript of these radio advertisements is on the Home Office website. Not 'simplified' or 'paraphrased' at all. Verbatim.
I had to look up the word "Inveigling." Nice word of the day!
If you smoke marijuana at every conceivable opportunity, and stare into a computer screen for hours at a time on a daily basis as an alternative to real life, then it`s like err...totally....obvious that Britain has stumbled into some kind of Orwellian nightmare...or maybe it`s just you.
no, it isn't "you".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/25/personal-data-terrorism-surveillance
As much as I hate the phrase "If you suspect it, report it", it's just another example of the government acting toughest on the crimes it is hardest to actually enforce. If you think that's in-your-face you should see the spam letters about how they KNOW you have a TV and no license and they ARE COMING FOR YOU YOU SCUM! - which get sent to, say, student residences en masse, whether you have a TV or not, whether you have a license or not. In a similar vein, the current road tax/benefit fraud adverts both emphasise how powerful and omniscient the government is, how it's impossible to get away - not why it's your civic duty, or part of the social contract, or anything like that. They're just bluffs.