Slashdot Mirror
UK Government Could Imprison People For Looking At Terrorist Content (betanews.com)
Mark Wilson writes: Not content with trying to "combat" encryption, the UK government also wants to criminalize looking at terrorist content. The leading Conservative party has announced plans which threaten those who "repeatedly view terrorist content online" with time behind bars. New laws will be introduced that could see consumers of terrorist content imprisoned for up to 15 years. The same maximum sentence would face those who share information about police, soldiers or intelligence agencies with a view to organizing terrorist attacks.
And 'Murricans are the evil ones. Between hate speech laws and now what appears to be the true beginnings of thoughtcrime, those sophisitcated Europeans are representin'.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Assuming the summary is a correct and concise one.
You can't learn about terrorism without reading about it. Not reading about it leaves you ignorant. Being ignorant removes the tools for combating it.
This is just a dumb, knee-jerk reaction idea from the start.
To the best my knowledge, you can be arrested for POSTING content critical of the government (or considered not in "public interests", but as far as I know, you aren't imprisoned for simply reading it (China as so many censor mechanisms in place it probably doesn't matter so much). Does this party even realize what precedent they are setting in proposing this?
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Come on guys...have you not seen V for Vendetta?
Apparently, as it stands, it does not cover streaming, so will be extended to reference it. The proposal would also change the penalty from a maximum of 10 years in prison to a maximum of 15 years.
Somebody gets caught committing a terrorist act and you want to base his sentencing on his video habits? That seems silly. Surely in that case there would be more relevant charges.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Your 2nd may not go away because of the gun nuts, but your 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and who knows what else are down the shitter.
So, congratulations, you have the right to shoot into a crowd, but nobody is doing a fucking thing to protect the rest of your rights.
Like it or not, America is trending to fascism just as fast as the Brits .. they just don't go around pretending to be a free society and acting smug about it.
What rights? You have no rights. You have a piece of paper that the government chooses to follow haphazardly and with all your might and all your guns you roll over and ignore your 4th amendment free zones, your places where guns are banned, and your general military police state you find yourself in where police are a protected entity even when they shoot and kill unarmed women in the pyjamas who were the ones who called them in the first place.
Sure you have the right to a fair trial, apparently ... if you make it that far. And given the recent track record you're far more likely to do that without a gun than with.
The 2nd isn't under serious challenge by the government because, unlike many of the other amendments, the 2nd doesn't actually pose any sort of threat to the government.
Oh please. Exactly how many "rights" has the 2nd amendment gotten US citizens back? Every time armed citizens stand up to the government it always ends with them in prison or dead. See Ruby Ridge, Waco, whatever the hell that was in Oregon last year and more.
You're not going to overthrow the government without the support of the armed services. If you don't have that support, they will kill you. If you do have that support, you don't need guns because they've got them. And tanks. And Apache attack copters and drones and bombers and whatever else.
Remember the movie "Brazil"? I think its depiction of a government that puts in a lot of effort to divert attention from acts of terror is not too far-fetched.