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"War On Terror" Board Game Confiscated In UK
An anonymous reader writes "The board game The War On Terror is a satirical game in which George Bush's 'Axis of Evil' is reduced to a spinner in the middle of the board, which determines which player is designated a terrorist state. That person then has to wear a balaclava (included in the box set) with the word 'Evil' stitched onto it. Kent police said they had confiscated the game because the balaclava 'could be used to conceal someone's identity or could be used in the course of a criminal act.' Balaclavas are freely sold all over the place in the area." Schneier has blogged this stupidity, of course.
All too often Police confuse "fighting crime" and "protecting the peace" with authoritarian "because I said so and I have a gun" mentality.
I refrain from a rant, but the more police I meet, the more I hate the police.
One of which is that this is great publicity for the game and will surely increase sales.
n/t
pwned
You're doing it wrong,
that was fast...
I wonder how much did the board game creators paid the police 'confiscate' the game? Talk about cheap advertising.
They need the "Police in free country crack down on their own people for idiotic reasons and abusing their authority thereby turning free country into a less-free country thereby aiding the terrorists" card.
More like awesomeness.
Why would you wear a dessert on your head? I mean I can see it if the game was like "Spin the bottle" or something of that ilk...
Guns are for wimps... Use a crossbow.. this way you can pin them to their chair when you go postal.
Because when I think 'hijacking an airplane', I think about wearing a balaclava with the word EVIL stitched to my head.
They better get started confiscating things because I've got a lot of identity concealing items around.
...
-Any article of clothing
-Towels
-Sheets
-Paper Bags
-Ski masks
-My Hands
Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
afterall, we KNOW (right?) that EVIL bad guys use cameras to do their harm.
what kind of terr-a-wrist would be seen in public without his 'spy cam'?
just like monopoly has those silly figurines that run around the board, there should be something mentioning cameras. taking an image not only steals your soul but its a 'tool of evildoers'.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Okay okay, we get it, but you're wasting your time because it's obvious that not a lot of Americans will vote Republican again.
Next time troll in favor of McCain so that the troll fans may laugh a lot harder. Or go back to posting stories about coprophagy and canine zoophilia, those were quite entertaining and +1 informative.
This was a raid (of uncertain provenance) on a protest outside a power station. The other items seized are "knives, chisels and bolt cutters". It seems to me that the police took the balaclava under the quite reasonable assumption that someone was going to put it on and break into the station using some of the tools. That it was part of a board game is entirely incidental.
If the police seize a pack of ladies' stockings from your home, that's absurd. If they seize a crate of ladies' stockings, bank plans, and a toy gun from your car outside a bank, that's reasonable.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Its too bad that they cant find a little humor in it. does this mean if the ouija board came out today, that would be considered terroristic? on a lighter note, I think i might buy the game ... i wonder if they have minitures of terrorist leaders, i wanna be kim jong-il!
Here's the thing: a bunch of people were protesting by chaining themselves to gates and generally impeding operations at a power station. The police came along, hauled them off, and took away the tools they were using. Knives, chisels, bolt cutters, and balaclavas.
It's got nothing to do with balaclavas being illegal, any more than bolt cutters are illegal. It's got nothing at all to do with the game itself. It's the fact that the masks were being used in the process of shutting down a power station.
Did anybody spot that most of the article was dedicated to describing the game and its distribution hopes, as if it were a game review, while the confiscation itself got just a single sentence in the article? This is a fucking advert. The creators, from Cambridge, heard about it, and got their mate at the local paper, in Cambridge to write about it as a favour. This is a local paper, and the event the article is supposed to be talking about happened in Kent, 100 miles away.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
The UK police are a serious threat to liberty, and I say this as someone who used to work for them.
They are monumentally petty, generally taking the view that who they arrest should be based on who they don't like the look of rather than who has done something wrong, and then sort out the crime they are to be charged with later.
A common method is to approach people whose appearance suggests poverty (normally written down as "looking suspicious), and intimidating them until they do something that could be construed as resisting arrest or assaulting the officer, then haul them away and throw them in a cell.
They then whinge about having to do loads of 'paperwork' which basically translates to 'its difficult to pin crimes on everybody we haul in'. Having been on the paperwork end of policing I can safely say that if someone has be caught for a specific crime (rather than hauled in for wearing a tracksuit and leaned on) then it isn't hard to get them convicted.
The majority of policing in the city I worked in (where I saw every file that went through the local magistrates court, albeit briefly in most cases) consisted of protecting the property of city businesses, banging up drunks, and bullying chavs.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Technically the spinner is a munition, developed specifically for US intelligence.
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
So they took the whole game because of the evil balaclava?
The spinner has pointy bits, and could conceivably be used as a weapon as well. Brit cops are scared of pointy things.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Was that written by one of those automatic letter writers? You know the type that spews lines and lines of inane B.S.?
When are you brits going to overthrow your ridiculous government already and just get on with a normal life? We did the same in the 1700s and it got us 200+ years of "useful" government. Granted, we've got our issues here in the US, but they're not nearly as bad as yours. What bothers me more is most brits seem to like living in a police state.
...the balaclava 'could be used to conceal someone's identity...
So could a pair of Groucho glasses. Those are next.
Proverbs 21:19
lots of people were them too under helmets on motorcycles to protect from cold or just to protect the helmet. But forget about the balaclava... wearing a simple full face helmet could be considered that conceals the identity of the motorist - isn't wearing a helmet mandatory in UK?
Close. It was written by a political hack.
I believe this is the definition of Irony.
Absolutely. I'm sure everyone remembers the police training video where the instructor would ask the recruits how they would defend themselves against attackers wielding various weapons such as grapes, raspberries and bananas. The one recruit kept mentioning pointy sticks but the instructor ignored him.
For those that don't remember, here's the video in question.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan that will create millions of good American jobs, ensure our nation's energy security, get the government's budget and spending practices in order, and bring relief to American consumers. Click to learn how the McCain Economic Plan will help bring reform, prosperity and peace to America. Read More...
Straight Talk Express, here I come!
Your brain is not a computer.
I looked up on the web what a balaclava was, for I wasn't familiar with the term.
In Canada they sell those made of wool and other sturdy fibers as a winter gear for protection against the cold weather.
See the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing)
Now, I'm shocked that they would prohibit a game because of the headgear, that's ridiculous! It's a GAME! Beside, this type of head gear is sold everywhere!
Not worse than those KKK back then, when they were wearing bedsheets for pete's sakes!
How can the authorities be so "STUPID!"
Wow.
My head is still spinning over this. Unbelieavable.
Everything can be used to conceal's one's identity.
Ok Uk Police, ban the following, please, because you must be thorough in your logic
1) makeup
2) hair extensions, hair pieces, hair products for coloring
3) ban the growth of beards
4) ban coloured contact lenses
5) ban theatrical makeup
6) ban plastic surgery
7) ban every form of toy weapons, including those dangerous Super Soaker Water guns, since these can actually be dangerous (try chlorine bleach instead of water)
8) hell ban all form of clothing too, because ya know, at this point, one could wear a long coat and a hat and try to conceal themselves too!!
I could go on, I'm just totally blown by how ridiculous the UK authorities are on this issue!
Before I say anything, I suppose I should say that oppose the "war on terror" on the grounds that it doesn't make the U.S. or the world any safer in the long run because it further radicalizes people. Furthermore, it faltered from the very beginning by betraying the very principles it was fighting to protect and just became a thinly veiled attempt to impose a hegemonic world order. Now to my point. What does this actually have to do with terrorism which needs which can easly stopped through the the law enforcement and intelligence agencies without any need for conventional armed forces. Most of the time the word "terror" is mentiioned it is not related to specific terrorist acts but to the "war on terror". Confusing the issue of terrorism with with Bush's "war on terror" only makes things worse for the U.S. and the world.
...it's obvious that not a lot of Americans will vote Republican again.
I don't know about that. Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush* (scroll down on that page). So if they're not voting Republican, they probably aren't voting Democrat, either.
*Naturally that depends on the accuracy of the polls. See Dewey Defeats Truman
The official site seems to be slashdotted, but there's plenty of info at the Board Game Geek entry for the game.
Lord knows, these people may have been T-Shirt Ninjas and could have used such a dangerous terrorist tool so as to conceal their identity.
Boot stomping on the face of freedom, forever....
This isn't about police confiscating some stupid board game, which TFA practically reads like an advert for.
This is about far more widespread use of police powers to harass and intimidate demonstrators protesting the planned construction of a new coal fired power station near Kingsnorth in Kent.
There was a large, week long "climate camp" attended by around 1000-2000 people near the site. Police used intimidatory tactics such as blanket stop and search of anyone approaching the site (with confiscation of such dangerous items as penknives, children's crayons, and apparently board games) there were night-time raids on the camp, confiscation of food supplies and bicycles, low flying helicopters over the camp at night, etc. etc.
On the final day of the "camp" there was a march to the gates of the existing power station, after about an hour at the gates the police announced via megaphone from a helicopter that the march would be over at 1 pm; and threatened the use of dogs and riot batons against anyone who remained, as well as arrest under section 14 of the public order act.
Some people did break into the power station in an attempt to make their point, I don't want to pretend that no laws were broken, but the protest was entirely non-violent. The police response was disproportionate, and designed to intimidate protesters rather than uphold the law.
All in all the police spent some £3 million intimidating a group of entirely peaceful, and largely law abiding people exercising their democratic right to protest.
The powers granted to the police under recent criminal justice and terrorism legislation passed by the Labour government are sweeping, and disturbing for anyone who believes in little things like freedom of assembly. Most people don't really realise the extent of it until they do something the government disapproves of, the media don't really make a fuss, and so public protest is practically non-existent. Given the total lack of public awareness of or response to these incidents I think it's likely things are going to get far worse for anyone who dares challenge authority in Britain. That's what we should be talking about, not making light of the situation by focusing on some inane story about a board game.
I mean, I didn't even read the summary, let alone the article, but it was posted by kdawson.
Am I wrong?
It really seems to me that Britain is becoming more fascist by the day. I thought the US was bad, but Britain seems to be worse. I don't mean to offend, I am just surprised, is all.
Video cameras everywhere, intrusive police, now this.
Flame me if I'm out of line, but does anybody see the same thing?
much thanks to the UK police for proving to the world that douchebagery is not limited to the Department of Homeland Security.
-- All this knowledge is giving me a raging brainer.
comments like these tell you the terrorists have already won.
First of all, by calling it a "balaclava" instead of a "ski mask" they are obviously attempting to conceal its evil nature!
Secondly, stitching "EVIL" onto the ski mask is an obvious attempt to confuse people. You see somebody walking down the street wearing a ski mask, you assume they're up to no good — unless that ski mask has "EVIL" stitched onto it, in which case you assume that it's all a prank, and the person is free to rob banks, take hostages, or whatever.
Game Publishers Andrew Sheerin and Andy Tompkins from a small company in Cambridge UK, have been reported to have been seen laughing hysterically as they walked into a local bank branch.
Their beer and pretzels game 'War on Terror' which was doing moderate sales from timely novelty value recently was under the world spot lite, generating MILLIONS of sold copies for the surprised anarchists.
'We were pleasantly surprised' said Mr. Topkins, 'we had thought the British Police force was actually trying to hinder sales, thankfully, they did the opposite. I take back every nasty thing I have ever said about them.'
In other news, Britain is now in the midst of a balaclava shortage which has caused several riots in south London, with a fatality count of fifteen and climbing.
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
About the Streissand effect.
Sadly, I made the same prediction in 2004. "Surely, Americans aren't so stupid that we aren't going elect this same batch of bozos again."
Apparently, we are.
Looks like McCain is doing pretty good in the polls, now too. Even people I know who claim to regret voting for Bush are now planning to vote for McCain.
"Sure, he's got all the exact same policies, but he says he'll do them right this time!"
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
After digging some more, I'd like to redact at least part of my argument in my post, "context context", above. The Independent's version of the story explains in more detail, and in particular how the authors of the game came to realise it had been taken in the raid.
Following a series of raids on the climate change camp near Kingsnorth power station, officers displayed an array of supposed weapons snatched from demonstrators: knives, chisels, bolt cutters, a throwing star â" and a copy of the satirical game, which lampoons Washington's "war on terror".
Okay, making off with the balacalva, I get it. Maybe taking the board game as well, because it's a whole set, sure. Making off with them, then displaying the board game as part of the success story?! Are you kidding me? At what point does "satirical board game" become a serious part of the investigation?
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
--Paint (Can be used to disguise the previous appearance of items)
--Hair Coloring (The only legal hair color from now on will be birth color, offenders can be jailed)
--Clothing dye (See above, you could conceal the identity of a garment)
--Sharpies and other markers (These could be used to conceal previously written statements)
--And as always, remember to firmly affix your ID barcode to your forehead before leaving home.
Methinks that Diebold will be a lot less involved than before in this election.
I have my fingers crossed, though it would be very nice to see an independent win.
Perhaps I missed the explanation on a previous thread, but the "signed" tag seems to be reoccuring. My only recourse is start counter tagging with "unsigned". Is this some sort of new slashdot meme or is the joke literally on just me.
One of the notable different in law-enforcement related legal issues is that in BC, issue with the police are generally investigated by an internal unit. There have been a *lot* of issues and complaints around this lately especially in relation to issues being more-or-less swept under the rug.
In Ontario, from what I've heard any issue of gravity is investigated by a unit that is kept separate from the actual police department, and major investigations are usually carried about by a department of that unit from another area to prevent prejudice.
Balaclavas were banned in Northern Ireland during the troubles. I do not know if they are still banned.
Tumble dryer timers were also purportedly banned [1] as they could be used in a bomb.
[1] Was told this on a British Army training course (NIRTT course - Northern Ireland Reinforcement Training [last T = god knows] but have never checked on it.
Kent police said they had confiscated the game because the balaclava 'could be used to conceal someone's identity
Wonder what they're going to do on Halloween?
I had no idea what the word meant.
Of course we can look it up - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing)
The answer is that a balaclava is what I normally think of as a "ski mask". Covers the face.
not their checks, not their orders, not their careers, not their pensions, nothing, they have a human duty to not do stupid and illegal and immoral things, from minor to major. Legal reference and precedent why following orders is not an automatic excuse to do anything you want or are ordered to do.
ya ya this time it was "just a game", or "just a camera and taking pictures illegally", its "the legal free speech zone is over here behind this fence barricade", "well, we were told by our superior entities that there were links to osama bin forgotten and 9-11 and he had WMD and..orders..uhh.", "well, segregation is the law, so them darkies got to stay in the back of the bus and they can't go to the white folk's schools or drink out of the water fountains, so we got to have law-n-order!", "we need to pacify them injuns", and.....just tons of excuses over the years/decades/generations/centuries for being dickwads. It all adds up. You got a society that starts to treat everyone like a criminal, where they can get away with anything they want as long as they say the magic phrase of that generation, which in this generation is "security threat-tarrrr-ism!!", guess what, you have created a "papers please" police state on purpose. And once on that path it usually ends up with the cattle cars and the camps and political prisoners and so on, all because of some excuse and following orders and allowing it to go on every little step of the way until a lot of stuff has changed for the worse.
No one single incident is the tipping point, there probably isn't a real tipping point, it is the accumulation of all the little precedents headed towards the full bore tyrannical regime that gives it away. If you aren't seeing the word "no, that is just wrong" being applied occassionally, that's your biggest clue that it is rapidly headed towards a *really* bad news situation, which unfortunately humans have gone through too many times in the past.
In the 20th century, the biggest criminal gangs and mass murderers were the state, and the state's employees, untold millions of people robbed, raped, tortured, incarcerated, and killed by their own governments and government employees, all over the planet.
And that is why with the original founding of the US they tried to break that cycle, (yes, it was still flawed in many ways but it was the first serious organized humans attempt). They recognized the individual was sovereign and free, and was born that way, nothing else was need other than existence, he did not have rights which were doled out or taken away on a whim by some king or dictator or prince or emperor or clerk in chief.
That's why they made a point to try to clearly limit governmental power, that's why they were so insistent on a second amendment and full technological parity of self defense tools and why they *absolutely* did NOT want a large permanent standing army, because they knew it would eventually lead to yet another stoopid dictatorship. And it is because human nature doesn't change that much, the criminally insane and shrewd megalomaniacs and psychopaths always rise to positions of power, that's what they crave over everything else so that is what they work for and get. It's not like there are tons of those crazy people, there aren't, there never have been, it is an oddly occuring human defect condition, but it is why bad stuff happens all the time, dealing with ultimate predators is hard, going along with them is a lot easier, and eventually in very large ways, those crazy leaders get followers who do not question edicts and commands, no matter how far it goes because of the phenomenon of incremental changes, they just follow through, even when they know it could very well be wrong, and there's always some excuse they use for it.
The problem is not the police it is our societies. When you have a society that passes repressive laws, gives corporations the rights of individuals while taking away individual rights and considers those in positions of authority to be above the existing laws then you get this kind of environment. One where cops abuse their power because abuse of power is handed down from above. Not that they aren't responsible for their actions they are but as long as the root of the problem remains we will have to deal with this. Cops are human beings too and its not us vs. them, we need to take out power back, all of us.
Looks like the site is down along with google's cache of it.
Well, heh, given that the game website appears to be somewhat slashdotted, this is probably the best thing that's ever happened to them.
-- All your booze are belong to us.
Offtopic, but: Is it just me or is too many of the slashdot stories too sensational...
There's usually a good reason for what ever it was... Seriously the sensational story about german prosecutors not wanting to deal with small cases... The summary doesn't mention that the copyright holders can now just get the personal ip information directly from ISPs without a warrent. Now that sucks, and that's the story - not that German prosecutor wont handle small cases anymore.
Also the another story today: British Government Considers Tenfold Increase to Copyright Penalty
Really it's just meant for people who profit of copyright infringement. Still news as the definition of profits from copyright infringement may wary, but it's not a tenfold in general...
It's it just me or is Slashdot loosing objectivity and context in order to be sensational, can we please get boring news again?
(But true news...)
Only politicians and big corporations are allowed to profit from the War on Terror.
the boardgame is slashdotted, but the google cache is working: http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:http://www.waronterrortheboardgame.com/
it's a pastry!
It seems as soon as there's a topic regarding law enforcement on Slashdot, everyone comes out of the woodwork with some story about corruption throughout the ranks. But keep in mind not everyone is from the same country, and it'd be nice if you could at least specify where you're coming from before you start some story. I'm from Toronto, but have traveled around Canada and seen local authorities vary drastically in how they use their powers. Now if things can vary that much across just a few provinces, surely things vary much greater for different countries, and it'd be important to distinguish what law enforcement agency you're talking about.
Also, for a community that's usually opposed to mainstream media, no one has really taken into consideration the media's bias to negative acts. Stories about corrupt officers sell more than stories about officers doing their job properly, or even going beyond the call of duty, so news agencies tend to focus on that. There are plenty of good cops out there; they just don't get their fair share of the headlines.
This just in police have broken and captured a huge group of terrorists operating around the world calling themselves "The Home Depot"
come up with a good excuse for taking it!
V: VoilÃ! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
[carves V into poster on wall]
V: The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
[giggles]
V: Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
Disclaimer: I am not god.
We may not be created equal
But we can be treated equal.
7 shots while being held down.
Point blank.
In the head (though one went into the shoulder, great marksmanship).
Then they lied about what happened.
We don't ask them to shoot ANYONE EVER.
They do that all by themselves.
In the year before that police killed more innocent people than terrorists did.
FTFA: "George Bush's 'Axis of Evil' is reduced to a spinner in the middle of the board, which determines which player is designated a terrorist state.
I don't know, I sometimes feel like this is close to the actual method that George Bush uses to make some of his foreign policy decisions.
I'm not huge McCain fan either, but I at least feel like no matter who wins the election, it'll be a marked improvement.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/war-on-terror-boardgame-branded-criminal-by-police-889287.html
Confiscating the game has given it lots of PR, but a little more context on the situation probably helps explain the polices actions. They were raiding a Climate Change camp and recovered a number of things that could be used as weapons including knives, chisels, bolt cutters, and a throwing star. The board game got picked up as part of this because of the Balaclava. Obviously, they did not have to take the full game and displaying the game as part of what they collected was stupid and open to ridicule, but some context shows why they might have considered it suspicious.
I think "police state" is an exaggeration in both cases, but both countries are clearly on a swing toward reduced civil rights. If you wanted to look at it as some kind of competition, here are some scoring points:
Advantage: UK
* Police Brutality in response to peaceful protest.
* 24/7 constant CCTV surveilance of (nearly) every street corner.
* Routine collection of DNA samples from anyone who passes through police custody, whether or not they're ever charged with a crime.
Advantage: USA
* Establishment of a parallel "streamlined" justice system for "enemy combatants", including holding people (even US and allied country citizens) for YEARS without ever even charging them with a crime.
* New and creative definitions for the word "torture".
* Routine wiretapping (and automated excerpt generation) of telephone and internet traffic, without a warrant.
I thought it was used by politicians.
Tell me something. Why do Brits put up with this crap?
There is nothing power hates and fears more than being held up to ridicule. Fortunately, those who wield it almost always act in ways that hold them up to even more ridicule.
i simply don't understand all this hatred for a group that split up 20+ years ago.
I'll admit that their early releases (Reggatta de Blanc springs to mind) weren't that good, but later items (Synchronicity) were quite good.
I think the groups issues were more to do with drugs + in-group fighting rather than confusion regarding "fighting crime" roles.
A lot of people are criticising Kent police over this, but they don't understand the issue. The problem is that the word 'Evil' is only stitched on the *outside* of the balaclava, which means that anyone can conceal their intent by the simple expedient of turning it inside out.
Regular balaclavas, which are perfectly legal and sold throughout Kent, do not have this problem.
The use of fallacious logic in a statement does not, by itself, constitute satire.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
Since the police like to play at being the military, I'd suggest they take a page from our manual and learn this lesson well:
"The Honor of the Unit Lies with Each Man."
If ONE of my men is wrong, then the whole group is wrong, and I'M wrong because I'm his commander. Get this, and get this straight. You clean your damn house.
When a cop goes wrong, I damn well expect his partner to slap cuffs on him, and if the partner doesn't, then the partner is culpable and just as guilty. If you see wrong, and you don't oppose it with everything you've got, then YOU are wrong, and worse, you're wrong under color of authority.
As someone with a military background, I'm sick of hearing this "just a couple bad apples" shit. The fact that you tolerate the bad apples, that bad officers are not weeded out on the damn spot, makes the whole unit bad.
What about T-shirt instant-ninjas? ref evidence.
You can easily fashion a T-shirt into an identity concealing weapon of terror! Think of the children; there are billions of children living near people that could at any given instant turn into lethal instant-ninjas with a mere twist of fabric.
...in Northern Ireland at least. All PSNI officers carry a Glock 17 and until recently they were also given MP5s as standard issue (although they're still used around marching season and at some checkpoints, but these are less common now too).
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel."