CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘Paranoia’ Category

Another article from the Times….

Dangerous and depraved: paedophiles unite with terrorists online – Times Online

October 17, 2008

Dangerous and depraved: paedophiles unite with terrorists online
Richard Kerbaj, Dominic Kennedy, Richard Owen and Graham Keeley

For some, the internet is merely a hiding place — a web of secret corridors where all manner of shameful deeds unfold. But the police never expected that it might become a strategic platform where two groups of society’s outcasts, terrorists and child sex abusers, could meet to exchange operational secrets.

The realisation that there might be something in common between violent Muslim fanatics known for their supposed piety and sexual deviants who prey on children has only slowly dawned on officers. Cracking the mystery of how these worlds overlap is expected to improve understanding of the mindsets of both types of criminals and has been hailed as a potentially vital intelligence tool to undermine future terrorist plots. ‘A way of finding who the extremists and terrorists are’, an anti-terror source said, ‘is to go through the child-porn sites.’

The link might have remained unknown but for the case of a Muslim preacher from the East End of London who in 2006 was being investigated by police over his suspected links to a jihadi terrorist gunrunner.

To Scotland Yard’s surprise, the 26-year-old Abdul Makim Khalisadar, a former primary school assistant, was discovered to be downloading considerable quantities of child pornography. A DNA test showed he was the wanted ‘Whitechapel Rapist’ who had violently attacked a woman in the street a year earlier. He was jailed for ten years for rape and perverting justice. Khalisadar, who has never been convicted of terrorist offences, and some friends concocted a false alibi that he was preaching at the East London Mosque when the attack happened. He was accused of possessing photographs of child sex abuse but these 11 charges were allowed to lie on file. “

(Via .)

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Sounds all unbelievable to me but interesting article from The Times. Why wouldn’t they hide their messages into normal boring photos considering the fact that websites carrying child pornography would be more likely to be under investigation?

Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids – Times Online

October 17, 2008
Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids
Paedophile websites are being used to pass information between terrorists
Richard Kerbaj and Dominic Kennedy

A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.

Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.

British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists’ methods and mindsets. Concerns within the Metropolitan Police led to a plan to run a pilot research project exploring the nature of the link. One source familiar with the proposal said that this could eventually lead to the training of child welfare experts to identify signs of terrorist involvement as they monitor pornographic sites.

Concerns have already been expressed at Cabinet minister level about the risk of vulnerable Muslim youths being exploited by older men. “

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‘Extreme’ extreme porn law puts Scots out of kilter: “

Proposals would criminalise material allowed in rest of UK

If you thought Scotland might be a safe place to stash your collection of dubious erotic artwork when legislation on extreme porn comes into force, think again.…

“

(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

(Via Techdirt.)

What Does The Internet Have To Do With The Finnish School Shooting?: “The story of the Finnish school shooting that left 11 people (including the shooter) dead is certainly a tragedy, and you can understand why people immediately respond to such things by looking for something to blame, or some law or process that needs to be changed — but at some point you have to admit that it’s going to be impossible to totally prevent such actions. Yet, for some reason, people always want to place some sort of ‘blame’ for these sorts of things on the internet. Witness comments from Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, where he talks about various changes to look at, such as with gun laws, but also says:

‘The internet and YouTube forums… are not another planet. This is part of our world and we adults have the responsibility to check what is happening, and create borders and safety there.’

But, the thing is, those channels are being monitored, and they were watched in this case. In fact, as nearly every press report on the shooting mentions, police visited the shooter a day before the shooting, due to a YouTube video he posted where he was heard pointing a gun at the camera and saying ‘you will die next.’ So it’s difficult to see how the internet is even remotely worth calling out here. The internet was used to alert authorities, it’s just that there wasn’t any evidence of a crime or intention to commit a crime at that point. So why bring it up at all?

Web firms should screen content, says Parliamentary committee: “Websites which accept user-generated content should do more to screen out content that might be harmful to the public, a Parliamentary committee has warned. Sites should also publish prominent terms and conditions banning harmful content, it said.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Times Higher Education: Researchers have no ‘right’ to study terrorist materials
17 July 2008, By Melanie Newman

Nottingham v-c warns that academics may face prosecution. Melanie Newman reports

Academics have no ‘right’ to research terrorist materials and they risk being prosecuted for doing so, the vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham has told his staff.

In a statement issued to the university last week, Sir Colin Campbell says: ‘There is no ‘right’ to access and research terrorist materials. Those who do so run the risk of being investigated and prosecuted on terrorism charges. Equally, there is no ‘prohibition’ on accessing terrorist materials for the purpose of research. Those who do so are likely to be able to offer a defence to charges (although they may be held in custody for some time while the matter is investigated). This is the law and applies to all universities.’

Sir Colin issued the statement to advise staff to note ‘additional points’ that have emerged since the arrest in May of a Nottingham masters student and a clerk on suspicion of possessing extremist material.

The student, Rizwaan Sabir, who is studying Islamic terrorism, said he had downloaded a copy of an al-Qaeda training manual for use in his MA dissertation and PhD application and had forwarded it to the administrator, Hicham Yezza, for printing. After six days in detention, neither was charged.

Sir Colin referred to a letter of advice issued to Mr Sabir by the police after his release.

The letter warned Mr Sabir that he risked re-arrest if found with the manual again and added: ‘The university authorities have now made clear that possession of this material is not required for the purpose of your course of study nor do they consider it legitimate for you to possess it for research purposes.’

Sir Colin says in his statement: ‘It is understood that the police drafted this letter having considered all of the statements made by a range of university staff and they also consulted their legal advisers on it.’

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Obscenity, paranoia? She is lucky she is not reported to the police for a child pornography offence!

Store censors photo of baby on cake because of nudity: “A mother who wanted to give a birthday cake to her son featuring a photo of him as a baby is forced to have it censored.”

(Via BBC News.)

Licensed to hug (Civitas Blog): “« A small step, but where’s the giant leap? | Main
Licensed to hug

The dramatic escalation of child protection measures has succeeded in poisoning the relationship between the generations and creating an atmosphere of suspicion that actually increases the risks to children, according to a new study released today by Civitas.

In Licensed to Hug Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, argues that children need to have contact with a range of adult members of the community for their education and socialisation, but ‘this form of collaboration, which has traditionally underpinned intergenerational relationships, is now threatened by a regime that insists that adult/child encounters must be mediated through a security check’ (p.xii).

The scope of child protection has become immense. Since its formation in 2002 the Criminal Records Bureau has issued 15 million disclosures, but the whole operation has now been ratcheted up several notches by the passage of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. This has led to the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority which, when it is rolled out in October 2009, will require CRB checks of 11.3 million people – over one quarter of the adult population of England.”

(Via .)