UK officials detain Glenn Greenwald's partner at Heathrow, question him about Snowden interviews, steal all his gadgets & data

Try not looking at the world in terms of black or white, right or wrong.

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I thought of steganography, but if you are being targeted, that doesn’t really work, does it? As in any cat videos etc you might send are likely to be analysed on the assumption that they might contain material, and if you have the resources of the NSA, you could do that. Perhaps an awful lot of cat videos?
Strong encryption is a bit of a risk, because it assumes the maths hasn’t been cracked yet (and kept confidential).
So no, it isn’t easy, but I can’t help thinking a USB stick on a family member isn’t the best option.

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“I already share [David Miranda’s defiance over being illegally detained and harassed], as I’m certain US and UK authorities will soon see.”

OH SNAP. I can’t wait to see what Greenwald’s response will be.

Then you can just sit back and pop open a cold one. You’re getting what you want, so why be outraged? Why not soberly move on to the next fight?

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0.o Come on now, you must b trolling.

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Mate, this isn’t some random piece of policy. IT’S THE GOVERNMENT BREAKING LAWS.

If its not within your agenda and worldview to do what you can to bring
that to light then, well, stfu.

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Nope. Sorry to disappoint.

In which case I’m not going to murder you. Please be grateful for this gift. I might push you over, but remember, you must be grateful that I’m not doing anything worse, irrelevant of any injustice involved.

Understand now?

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You’re right. A politician is sending a letter to the Border Agency. Job done, lets all go home, justice is served.

What a Pillock.

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My thought too
 No more food for it from me.

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Alas! The British Government did this sort of thing pretty regularly since the 18th century, mainly to Irish people.

It got a lot better after the Good Friday Agreement, but they reinflated the whole rubber duckie of their ‘security’ apparatus after 9-11 (with some justifaction, it has to be said).

Like all security machines, it grew and grew, taking over as much power as possible and screw the legalities.

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Even if it were true that Miranda was carrying files from Snowden on behalf of Greenwald as a bitmule, it’s not terrorism to be doing that, because it’s not terrorism to embarrass the government or an ally of the government, it’s tough shit for Obama and Cameron. We need police who have the courage to recognise that they’re not shills for the incumbent government of the day, and then act accordingly.

We need to know who ordered this detention - was it a misguided initiative by the border police themselves, or more likely were they instructed to abuse the law by a minister? How did it happen, who authorised it, how can it be prevented in future?

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I know this will be unpopular here, but if Greenwald’s boyfriend/husband/partner was delivering documents to other parties, documents that were illegally obtained by Snowden, why is Greenwald even the least bit surprised that Miranda was detained? It smacks of opportunistic outrage, something I think Greenwald seems to have a habit of.

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Well, except for the part “Our lives are very comfortable”, being British didn’t used to be an impediment to drawing and quartering, eh? You can always use our (Canadian) technique: beat them up then apologize.

Notwithstanding for the fact that the population ended up electing the Harper’s Conservatives to power in 2006 (albeit as a minority government) - at least they sent a very, very clear message in the 1993 election, by reducing the 151-seat majority to two seats (stripping the Progressive Conservative party of ‘official status’).

Of course, just like the present situation in Canada, you have to have a legitimate, electable Opposition which isn’t a lapdog. Too many All of your leaders are the product of public (that is ‘private’) schools, thus their loyalty is to themselves, first and only. If only they used loyalty=probity as their guiding principle.

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That clause (not needing grounds for suspicion to stop someone) can be directly linked to complaints by Irish people who were stopped in droves in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. When it was pointed out that virtually no arrests ensued, the government protested that their power to stop was one of the best ‘intelligence-gathering’ mechanisms they had, even though it ostensibly required suspicion of terrorist links. So rather than have to make that excuse again, the new law Tony Blair brought in just dropped any pretense.

Don’t worry: if you’re innocent, you have nothing to fear, citizen! (Oh: in the UK, you’re a “subject”, not a citizen.)

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I whole heartedly agree.

Actually we are citizens :slight_smile: We’re just also subjects.

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That’s nice, but if you actually stop the people in the UK from saying “OK” and actually DOING this stuff, it’d stop the person in the US (who may or may not exist) from having any power.

It’s not JUST the US here. Pretending there’s some mythical US shadow running these things ignores the civil rights the UK was violating before. Like that brazillian guy who got shot 7 times in the head?

Focus on holding your people to account. That’ll take all the power away from anyone who MAY be running this show.

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basically because it’s not in any way, shape, or form an act of terrorism to transport ‘stolen’ or leaked documents. If the police had a reasonable suspicion that Miranda was carrying ‘stolen property’ on him, then there’s an established mechanism for pursuing him, it involves detention for up to an hour before being arrested or set free, questioning under caution if arrested, the right to independent legal council provided at the government’s expense, the right to refuse to answer questions, and an explanation of what inferences the court can draw if you maintain silence and you are brought to trial, e.g. due process.

The allegation that the police are abusing terrorist legislation is serious, because by crying ‘Terrorist’ the police are allowed a longer detention without charge, during which it becomes a criminal offence to refuse to answer any question put to you by an officer - no right to silence - no right to legal council. It’s an abuse of process.

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I was just making a funny, but in all seriousness we do have a stiff upper lip that tends to result in people being frustratingly blazé about things, whereas our French neighbours make a stand about absolutely everything (a quality to admire, IMO).

The important bit is the comfortable lives bit - no revolution is going to take place until things get really bad. But yes, for us to overthrown anything, we need something to replace it with. That can be just as messy, if not messier. Unfortunately even if we were to do that I’d worry that it would be someone like UKIP that would end up in power. *shudders*

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