Disillusioned Discordian

The Terrorism Act 2008 has had a rocky ride through the parliamentary process. As part of the ongoing salvo against our civil liberties, this is perhaps unsurprising. The most notable rejection of the Act was over 42 day’s detention. The Baroness Hanham has however also moved an amendment NO 2:

Before clause 14, insert the following new Clause – “National guidelines on fingerprint and sample database(1) The Secretary of State shall by regulations publish national guidelines for governmental agencies establishing-

(a) a procedure by which a person can request a statement of what information relating to fingerprints and samples is held on them or on a dependent;

(b) a procedure by which a person can request that such information held on them or a dependent is destroyed

The Amended bill will now be passed back to the commons following another defeat in the Lords, albeit this time with a slim majority. It’s pleasing that the lords are taking the issue of DNA retention seriously, however there remains a another serious aspect of the bill that has received less immediate attention, to be inserted into clause 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000:

“58A Eliciting, publishing or communicating information about members of armed forces etc A person commits an offence who – (a) elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been-

(i) a member of Her Majesty’s forces,

(ii)a member of any of the intelligence services, or

(iii)a constable,

Which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or (b) publishes or communicates any such information. It is a defense for a person charge with an offence under this section to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for their action.

A person guilty of an offense under this section is liable – (a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to a fine, or to both.

So hang on it will be an offense to collect information on police officers if the authorities suspect it might be used by terrorists. or to publish information about officers. There is a legal defense if the person can provide a reasonable excuse. That still involves an individual having to go through a trial to prove it! When you take this legislation in context of alarmist advertising warning people to be ’suspicious’ of everyday activities that might be related to terrorism, or the 15 year old school boy that was stopped and searched under Sec 44 for taking photographs for a school project… Anything could be deemed suspicious, in fact merely taking a photograph of the police will start to become a suspicious and potentially related to terrorist offenses. I also wonder what will become of sites like FIT Watch that document police offence involved in aggressive surveillance techniques that target political activists.

As previously blogged the NETCU are intent on blurring the line between protest and ‘domestic terrorism’, what if Animal Rights Activists make use of material on Google to direct a protest against a police constable? Would Google be breaking the law if their search engine picked up information on a constable that was then misused, or potentially misused according to ambiguous suspicion? Will the police put pressure on Investigative Journalist indirectly to not collect and gather information on Constables involved in suspected criminal activity – the implication is that you could be held responsible if information you published is used for terrorist acts. Well so long as you can prove you neither intended it to a paranoid state you are fine. In this murky grey area we can expect to see the usual function creep that has occurred with previous anti-terror legislation. This law won’t effectively stop terrorism, but it will be used by poorly trained PCSO to pick on people filming at protests, stations and in public. Within democracies we assign police officers, members of the security service and the armed forces additional legal powers. It is however fundamentally essential that as citizens we are able to record share and monitor their behavior.

Well I had a wonderful weekend last weekend at the Otley Folk Festival. @Geeklawyer and @harrym came up for to visit and drink. Aside from just sitting around drinking and watching Morris dancing we also got to have a trip up into the Dales to visit Gordale Scar and surrounding countryside. I was somewhat disappointed that @geeklawyer failed to engage in the Celidh dancing with the aplomb he showed at last years festivities. I must remember to get him drunker next time or perhaps threaten turning off the wifi connection with more gusto. Poor old Harry left his pies, feeling sorry for him I dispatched some in the post the very next day. Out of the bands I saw this year I would recommened Blythe Power as the most enjoyable outfit. So next year Hebden Bridge festival?! Watch this space. Although alas I will be leaving the market town of Otley that has served me so well for pastures new so perhaps there will be no next time. Yes I’m off to live in Hebden Bridge, world renowened for it’s Lesbians and well meaning Gaurdian reading liberals.

Geeklawyer Ponders his next move on Gordale Scar

There is a lot of speculation that tomorrow might bring about the end of the world as we are sucked into mini-black holes by the LHC. Although it’s true the first beams will be circulated tomorrow, it is my understanding that they will not yet be colliding beams at high energy until later in the year. As such there will most likely be an extended period in which the world might go pop. Anyway I feel it is still sensible to make some meta-physical precautions before I potentially get transformed into raw energy.

Firstly I considered my position of faith, hedging my bets I’ve renewed my devotion to a polytheistic understanding. Hopefully by covering a wide number of Gods/Goddess I’ll increase my odds of worshiping the right one. In a somewhat clever twist I also believe them to be personifications of the one true god, and hope the one true god will think it reasonable that I found life a bit confusing and that generally I wasn’t too bad. On the plus side Thantos is a powerful ‘driver’ for personal change (I do so love mixing the occult with marketing speak). It’s a stick to transform spiritual consumer behavior. As such I’m bringing in a raft of new measures which I hope will allow my spirit to grow at a sustainable rate.

Anyway I’ve distilled the essence of this profound spiritual awakening into bullet points/aphorism for easy understanding.

The People – The Greyfaces took the art of living seriously more seriously then the art of living.

The Mind -It’s better to blow your mind and spend an eon putting it back together, then spend an eon wishing you had blown your mind.

Every Matter matters – Matter matters and sprit is another type of matter

Speaking of Silence -Talk to things and thing will talk back; watch things and things will talk without speaking.

Reading more than words - Every tree has a story that once read we become a part of.

Close the Circle – Life after death is like death before life, but with wisdom.

Dance along with the cosmos – Events as realizations of our imaginations are free to dance for an eternity in their moments.

Thanks to all the Ubermench and most of all Wify (who I love becuase she would murder me if I called her that).

Finally in order to help metaphysical prepare my reader for communal anhiliation via LHC or personaly anhilation at a later as yet to be specified date, I ordain upon you all title of pope, may Eris cause mirth in your wake.

By order of the Moon23 Legion of dynamic discord, Husband, friend, enemy to the state, free thinker and Morris dancer extroindare.