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In UK, First "Anarchist's Cookbook" Downloaders' Convictions
analysethis writes "In the UK last month the author/compiler of the well-known-in-Internet-circles 'terrorist handbook' pleaded guilty to seven counts of collecting information that could have been used to prepare or commit acts of terrorism, with a maximum jail term of 10 years. Today the first people caught with downloaded copies have been put behind bars — a white-supremacist father and son pairing getting 10 and two years respectively, convicted of three counts of possessing material useful for acts of terror. How many will be emptying their recycle bins after this conviction? As of writing, the book is still freely available on Amazon.com to buy." Note: it seems that there's some overlapping nomenclature at play. Terrance Brown, the man who pleaded guilty to terror charges last month, is said to have been distributing a CD set including among other things extracts from Al-Qaeda manuals. His "cookbook" differs then from William Powell's 1971 book by a similar title, though (confusingly enough) the linked Wikipedia article implies that the father-and-son pair arrested possessed a copy of the Powell book as well; its text may well have been among the materials that Brown distributed.
Actually from what my foreign friends have told me America's one of the few countries where these kinds of groups aren't strongly discouraged by some means other than public attitude.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
convicted of three counts of possessing material useful for acts of terror
Can sombody explain why this is illegal? Every highschool student taking a chemistry course 'possesses material useful for acts of terror'. The fact that somebody owns something that COULD be used for some illegal activity doesn't make that person a criminal. Else, everybody would be in prison. Have you ever used a knife? A car? A computer? Thought so.
Well I'm glad to know that it's not normal every day people. When I was 17 and read Fight Club for the first time I got terribly interested in this kind of crap, (amateur explosives and general mischief, not white supremacy!) and probably downloaded a lot of stupid things out of curiosity, it was a phase I grew out of, and I never intended to do anything for a second.. I do remember finding an awesome shaving creme "bomb" though.. . it would have made some mess! My mom would have been so surprised! And I wanted to put an "out of order sign" on an ATM (to free people from their dependence on money... oh my god I was an idiot)
Anyway my point is I feel it's important for them to mention that these were serious nasty people, and not just hobbyists who want to blow up their old fridge because they're stupid and explosions look so cool on tv.
it's under construction
FWIW, I knew a guy at school who was investigated by British police about 14 years ago for downloading manuals like this and being involved with a group of people involved in distributing such material and building shit for kicks... a Bachelors and a Masters later, he is now working at the Ministry of Defence (the UK DoD) as a strategist.
This doesn't surprise me at all. He was a fairly bright chap - though nothing spectacular - but his heart remained that of a pathological kid who liked pain and blowing shit up. The military want a monopoly on that sort of person; they'll either catch you when they can mould you, or get rid of you.
That was my thought as well. There's a difference between a guide on making a few kinds of small scale explosives and even manuals on geurilla tactics and a manual for making illegal weapons of indiscriminate destruction.
I have a lot of Astronomy books. They describe what is needed to create supernovae and active galactic nuclei. Do you have any idea how small these terrorist books look in comparison? Should I be locked up for that? (The one weakness to my argument of course is that we don't actually have the tech to assemble supernovae let alone galaxies, but hey).
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
As I've explained above, this law does not criminalise the possession of information. It is only an offence to gather information that would help in the commission of an act of terrorism with the intention that it be used to assist the commission of this act. I think we can all agree that people who are part of a plot to perpetrate acts of terrorism should be jailed.
We in the UK aren't facing an 'epidemic of knife crime', either. It was just the Daily Mail looking for something to get excited about and the Labour government looking for more reasons to justify whatever they wanted to do.
Though this isn't me arguing against gun ownership, it's just trying to strip away hysteria and media manipulation.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Child porn is not illegal because the person in question might want to touch chilren.(though that's what the sun readers might like.)
Child porn is illegal because it's production required that a child be taken advantage of, abused or hurt.
the creation of the anarchist cookbook did not require anyone to be hurt or killed so it is nothing. absolutely nothing like child porn.
It's a false, dishonest and misleading comparison.
I have a pile of chemistry books which would give you all the information you'd need to make things that kill people.
I have a pile of physics books which tell me everything I need to know to build a basic nuclear weapon.
I have a pile of biology books which tell me everything I'd need to know to engineer a virus.
Those are all apparently ok.
But if it's in a little book with a threatening title then it's BAAAAAAD.
I think the official statistic is that 95% of the people killed by home-made bombs are the people making them. That means for every 1 innocent victim, 19 idiots remove themselves from the gene pool.
After comparing the Anarchist Cook Book (downloaded at 2400 baud) and other similar materials to reputable chemistry books, I am amazed the percentage isn't higher.