Geeklawyer’s chum Cory Doctorow has been getting some publicity for a picture he took at Tescos depicting the Mets absurd anti-terror campaign. The poster and it’s ilk have been seen before.
Frankly Geeklawyer cannot summon words to describe his contempt for this campaign. It is little wonder that photographers everywhere doing what is perfectly lawful are being harassed by the police, £5/hour rent-a-thug security guards and busybodys when tosh like this is used to engender suspicion and hostility to other citizens. As an aside the police say that terrorists do not photograph targets — it’s a movie plot!
The twaddle is not just about phones it’s about houses:
Phones:
Geeklawyer has not managed to locate the toilet one but imagines that the text would be:
“Terrorists go to the toilet. Terrorists get nervous before an outrage. Excessive use of a toilet may mean an impending atrocity — is someone you know going to the toilet a lot? Call now before they trigger that bomb!!”
Loyal citizen: don’t protect your friends family and coworkers — if in the slightest doubt call the police now!
BoingBoing has one of the latest of these, which handily combines cameras, rental vehicles, mobile phones, travel and computers. Because any person that uses all of these is a terrorist, obviously:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/30/dumbest-salvo-yet-in.html
Yea I fubar’d the URL which is the one you refer to. Doh.
Dear Citizen,
Does a house near you have net curtains, WARNING Terrorists may plan death behind net curtains.
Report all net curtains immediately to your local accredited community safety officer.
Security through suspicion.
Keeping Britain Safe.
Service to the state! Glory to the Race! Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!
Being a free citizens is about your rights and responsibilities, everyone has a responsibility to keep Britain safe.
Security through Suspicion.
But in talking about responsibilities you forget about Human Rights. You have the right to suspect others of being dissenters and the right to be free of nasty people whose colour or religion you don’t like.
We have fought long & hard over the centuries for these rights, lets not throw them away.
GL — the Flickr link in your post is the URL twice so it don’t work… (I’ve just cut the extra bit off, but thought you might want to know).
Rgds.
P.S. Love the spam protection on comments: “Sum of 7+9=?”. Does it double up as moron protection too?!
Thanks for the alert.
7+9 fools Sun readers and spambots. Well, not all the spambots but definitely all the Sun readers
as ever, the mighty bob was there before us all — talkin’ john birch paranoia blues.
mind you, it’s a fair point about people with houses; i checked and the vast majority of crimes are committed by and/or against people who live in houses. arrest houses now.
must work out how to do a bail application for a maisonette. (my alternative BVC is coming along well).
Ah! said the weathered older man, sitting by his tent, head shaded by his keffiyeh, AK-47 to hand.
“Terrorists need disguises.
.
A disguise should be something people accept and trust.
Policeman are accepted and trusted.
Therefore a sensible terrorist, to avoid the suspicions of the general public, would disguise himself as a policeman”
The younger man pondered, as he idly rocked his own AK-47 to and fro, that there was something not quite right with that idea, but on which he couldn’t quite put his finger.…’
Oh no, I have 3 mobile phones and a bedside drawer a-rattle with SIM cards. It’s OK though, I’m a Cop so no chance of me planning the next terrorist outrage. No really.….fellas stop looking at me like that.….….
The clever terrorists have joined the police. Your anti-terror colleagues are onto you, you Al Queda swine.
actually all the terrorists have joined the police — all the police have infiltrated al quaeda and are sitting together in a cave full of life of brianesque false beards wondering whether anyone ese is a muslim. neither can find the other. it’s chaos.