Intimidation
L to R: David Miranda and his partner Glenn Greenwald
Original image from The Guardian
The chilling effects of the event that took place on Sunday at Heathrow in London are very evident. The number of governments that use terrorism as a scapegoat to control the public as a whole is growing.
David Miranda, partner to Glenn Greenwald, the journalist that worked with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, was held as the London airport for just shy of nine hours, having his electronic data and equipment seized and questioned on every level. This was all done under the guise of Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which is essentially the UK’s version of the USA’s Patriot Act, limited to ports of entry like airports.
Concern
This thing that’s chilling about what took place is even though legal counsel was offered to Mr. Miranda, there was very little he could do or say as Schedule 7 allows police to intercept, at their will, anyone they suspect is a harm to national security. So what was it that Mr. Miranda was doing? Carrying documents related to journalism efforts. He is not an employee of The Guardian, unlike his partner, who is. He sometimes offers his help in relaying information. In this case, he was traveling from Berlin back to his home in Brazil [where is a naturalized citizen] carrying encrypted flash drives, a laptop and a video game system, which are currently being kept in London for a 7-day waiting period.
The idea that journalism is somehow related to terrorism is where the concern should be here. The idea that we have let police and government rule dictate an unwarranted stop and seizure without due process is a major concern.
I could go on and on about how upset I am at this and how both the UK and the US are exercising an abuse of power in the name of fighting terrorism, when really it is a veiled reason for fear and control and a lack of doing things smarter.
Read the following articles below to get a grasp of what happened. This is something we need to not only be concerned about, but also something we need to keep from happening. Fighting terrorism with disregard for liberties of those who live and travel in your country is wrong and needs to be curbed before it gets more out of hand. The more incidents we see like this, the more liberties we lose at the behest of a police or government mandate.
Anyone… left or right, liberal or conservative, should be concerned.
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Journalism is not terrorism. Any piece of information that the government doesn’t want you to know is not terrorism. This is shameful, unforgivable, and not a proud day at all for Britain.
I’ve seen that statement many places… journalism is being attacked, IMO. And it’s only bringing shame to the countries that embrace this shameful activity.
We live in a fucked up country.
Yes, we do. I want better for the US and the UK (and any other country that does the same shameful actions)
I’ve been following this story as well as the whole issue of NSA spying, Patriot Act, and overall extreme lack of privacy for a while now. This type of behavior by western governments, especially the US, is not going to stop and I think will only get worse (not matter who is in power – Republicans or Democrats). What is even so disgustingly hypocritical is that the US both physically attacks and verbally criticizes OTHER governments for doing the EXACT same thing the US government is doing to its citizens.
I just wish more people in this country would wake up already and pay attention. Thanks for posting about this.
Thank you for your well stated comment. My wish is more people need to speak up about this abuse of power.