--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "hugheshugo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante <no_reply@> > wrote: > > > > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7247470.stm > > > > I don't know what it's like for those of you who > > live in the UK, but from the point of view of we > > other EU residents, your country must be going > > through some weird shit lately, possibly weirder > > even than under Blair. > > > > You're now officially the most surveilled society > > on the planet. Each of you are filmed on the average > > of 80 times a day, on closed circuit cameras that > > have all been networked (even if they're private, > > on ATMs and the like) so that the government can > > use them watch everybody. > > > > And, as attested to by friends who tried to travel > > there recently from Spain, you're "cracking down" > > on tourists who overstay their EU tourist visas. > > > > A couple of friends who were a few days over the > > limit of their three-month visa flew into Britain > > for a few days' visit last week, prior to their > > return to the US. The officials at the airport > > looked at their passports and dragged them out of > > line, took all of their possessions away from them, > > and wouldn't let them call anyone. They put them > > in a locked detention cell with no beds in it > > overnight where they had to sleep on the floor > > with 20 other detainees stopped for similar > > tourist visa violations, and then put them on > > the next plane back to where they had come from > > in the morning. > > > > This was a married couple who were obviously well > > off. They were just passing through, and had > > unintentionally gone over the limit on their > > tourist visas because they had been having fun > > touring Europe, moving from country to country. > > Each time they did they got new stamps on their > > passports, and thought that that was sufficient > > to renew their three-month tourist visas. Trouble > > was they never traveled outside EU countries, and > > the new crackdown says that tourists have to leave > > the EU *completely* after three months. > > > > Everyone treated this way had "black marks" stamped > > on their passport records such that they will prob- > > ably have trouble traveling anywhere in the world > > from now on, because they have been officially > > deported from a country. As far as I know, even > > though the overstaying the tourist visas thing > > IS a larger EU concern, no other country in the > > EU is reacting like this and getting all gestapo > > on people's asses. > > > > So tell me, those of you who live there...what the > > FUCK is going on? > > I don't know what's going on but it scares the hell out > of me. The story above about your friends disturbs me a > lot, we never hear about things like that in the press > here.
The reason my friends were told that they were taking their mobile phones away is that they "didn't want anyone taking photos and selling them to the press." No shit. > I hate to think our country > treats people like that. It's very paranoid, but the tabloids have > been whipping people into a xenophobic frenzy recently and the > government uses them as a barometer for the national mood, I hate to > think it's gone this far though. I can see the far-right doing well > in the next elections. Remember the night I volunteered to gather up the Maharishi photos and put them into a Word file for people because I was up anyway? This is what I was up for. They finally, after six hours of being held incommunicado, put a phone in the detention cell so that people could call someone. It was dial-out only so that no one could call them, and the detainees could only call landlines, collect. I was the only person my friends could get ahold of. The wife was as hysterical as I have ever heard anyone be in my life, in tears, barely able to control herself. She had been treated like the worst sort of criminal for six hours for wanting to visit London. > As for the erosion of civil liberties, the legislation has crept in > since 9/11 bit by bit our hard won liberty has been eroded, I don't > know why people don't care about this maybe it's the slow drip-drip > that that people I talk to assume that the government has our best > interests at heart, I've never been that trusting. The police are > never slow to abuse their power, anti terrorist legislation can be > used to arrest people for just about anything. This is what I've heard about the UK as well. I've been pretty vocal about why I no longer live in the US; it's sad to me to see another country that was *founded* on liberty and the rights of individuals "following its lead." > I used to be a regular demo attendee always trying to change the > world or at least the government. I can't do it anymore cos it's > illegal, yep someone got arrested and held without charge for 4 days > just for reading out the names of war-dead in Iraq in public. And I > don't think the kids are too bothered, probably got enough worries > paying off their students debts and looking forward to those > mortgages to care. In my estimation, we really can't count much on this new "me first" generation. > And the CCTV thing, that really winds me up, everywhere you go there > are cameras, even when I'm walking the dog in the morning they're > following me, what are they expecting me to do? strap explosives to > her and blow up the police station? It's madness, they even watch me > when I'm doing chin-ups on the swings in the park, I give them a > volley of rude hand signals for that, quite surprised I haven't been > arrested actually. As they monitor all e-mails too I'll probably get > my door kicked in by the spooks tonight, if you never hear from me > again I'm rotting in a cell somewhere. Just in case this happens and they let you call someone collect, write me offline and I'll give you my number. I won't be able to DO anything about it, but you'll have someone to talk to. :-) > They have plans for roadside cameras to log every car that drives > past, face recognition software so they can automatically track > whoever they want wherever they want. They had those in New Mexico as well, on the highway leading up to Los Alamos (where the National Labs are located, and where all the weapons are invented). We once toyed with the idea of having a bunch of us drive along that highway the same day, all of us wearing Bin Laden masks. We abandoned the idea because when we thought it through we realized it could result in a one-way ticket to Guantanamo. > The Stasi would have loved > technology like that. I think that could be the problem, a lot of > this only happens because the technology has been invented and > someone in the government thinks it will save time and money to use > cameras rather than actual policemen and then it gets used to > monitor just for the sheer control-freakness of it. My friends told me that everyone entering Britain is now going to be fingerprinted, but they have as an alternative option having iris scans made. That's a little more intrusive in my opinion, because iris scan software/hardware can be set up to work at a distance. For example, you could set up such a device in a door- way and get an instant identification on anyone who walked through it, without asking them anything. I'm sorry, but technology like that is just *screaming* to be abused. > The tabloids whine about immigrants but just as many Brits leave > every year, don't blame them I plan to split as soon as possible. Sad to hear it. I'm an ex-pat, and know very well how you feel. It's really heartbreaking when you see the country you've grown up in and that you love doing things like this. And so you hope there are "better places" out there where this kind of madness doesn't happen. So far, there are. So far, it seems that I have chosen one to live in (Spain). But there are icky things goin' down here, too. Fear makes people do weird shit. What it all comes down to for me is that the only "safe place" on this planet is the ability to transcend. That's the only place you can "go" where there aren't any crazies. Good luck...
