A Worrying Precedent

A worrying precedent was set on Wednesday morning when David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, lost his court challenge that he was detained unlawfully under the Terrorism Act, 2000. [1] The act has come under criticism in recent years for being a catch-all law which has been misused by the police. [2] [3]

The Guardian quoted the Home Office this morning as saying that:

"The government and the police have a duty to protect the public and our national security. If the police believe that an individual is in possession of highly sensitive stolen information that would help terrorism, then they should act and the law provides them with a framework to do that. Those who oppose this sort of action need to think about what they are condoning." [4]

As was noted in the Guardian article, the direct challenge to critics seems to be part of a new tack the UK Home Office is taking -- they seem to be going on a heavy-handed offensive, taking a much tougher and more conservative stance on press freedom and immigration. @UKHomeOffice, in a tweet from July 3, 2013:

"There will be no hiding place for illegal immigrants with the new #ImmigrationBill." [5]

The pseudo-joke always used be that we had to worry about the US being a despotic regime hellbent on curtailing our individual freedoms. I'm starting to think we got the country wrong.

[1] David Miranda loses 'illegal detention' fight. The Telegraph, February 19, 2014

[2] Innocent photographer or terrorist? BBC News, April 17, 2008. 

[3] No terror arrests in 100,000 police counter-terror searches, figures show. The Guardian, October 28, 2010.

[4] Miranda had 'highly sensitive stolen information', Home Office suggests. The Guardian, August 20, 2013.

[5] @UKHomeOffice tweet, July 3, 2013.