Μάντσεστερ, η νέα ρουφιανούπολη;
Η αστυνομία του Μάντσεστερ -στο πνεύμα της Stasi- ζήτάει από τους πολίτες να τη βοηθήσουν στον εντοπισμό τρομοκρατών, καταγγέλοντας όσους έχουν ..πολλά κινητά ή προσπαθούν να αγοράσουν σπίτια με μετρητά.
Το κείμενο της έκκλησης δίνει μιά ιδέα για το τι θεωρεί η αστυνομία του Μάντσεστερ ύποπτο και βάσιμο λόγο για καταγγελία:
- Do you know anyone who travels but is vague on where they’re going? [..]
- Do you know someone buying large or unusual quantities of chemicals for no obvious reason?
- Handling chemicals is dangerous, maybe you’ve seen goggles or masks dumped somewhere?
- If you work in commercial vehicle hire or sales, has a sale or rental made you suspicious?
- Have you seen someone with large quantities of mobiles? [..]
- Do you know someone who visits terrorist-related websites?
- Have you seen any suspicious cheque or credit card transactions?
- Is someone is asking for a short-term let on a house or flat on a cash basis for no apparent reason?
The motto of the campaign is: ” You don’t have to be sure. If you suspect it, report it.“
Όπως μας διδάσκει η ιστορία, κι εύλογα σχολιάζει ο Bruce Schneier
It’s just dumb; people will report each other because their food smells wrong, or they talk in a funny language. The system will be swamped with false alarms, which police will have to waste their time following up on. This sort of state-sponsored snitchery is something you’d expect out of the former East Germany, or the Soviet Union — not the U.K.
Τον τελευταίο καιρό, ο Schneier ξετρυπώνει ολοένα και πιό επικίνδυνα και ανεγκέφαλα σχέδια κρατικών ή τοπικών αρχών στο δυτικό κόσμο για την “καταπολέμηση της τρομοκρατίας”. Σε σχετικό σχόλιο για την προσπάθεια του FBI να εντοπίσει τρομοκράτες λεωφορειατζήδες, ο Cory Doctorow το “ξεφτιλίζει” εντελώς…
Osama bin Laden might recruit suicide bombers who fill their colons with Semtex and undetectable shards of broken glass. These anus-bombers might blow up airplanes with their explosive assholes, killing everyone on board. We should all get a thorough, deep rectal exam prior to boarding, starting right now.
Terrorists might use rigged laptop batteries to trigger massive inflight lithium explosions. All laptops should henceforth travel in unpadded, unlocked bags. No battery-powered devices of any kind (digital watches, hearing aids, iPods, phones) should ever be allowed on airplanes. People with pacemakers should walk. Or stay put.
Terrorists might start animal shelters and use them to recruit stray animals that can be trained to serve as superbug vectors, tearing through our cities, spreading weaponized Ebola. No living creatures — other than (some) humans should be allowed within the city limits of any settlement bigger than 400 people.
Terrorists could infiltrate the world’s car companies and manufacture large, fuel-inefficient vehicles like Hummers. Once America has gone all SUV, the resulting carbon emissions would contribute to polar melting and global warming, causing devastating hurricanes through the southwest, killing and displacing millions of Americans. Ban car companies now, or the terrorists have won.
Δεν είναι εντελώς αστεία όλα αυτά όμως, αφού τέτοιες νοοτροπίες τείνουν να είναι εξαγώγιμες.
Πόσα κινητά είπες λοιπόν ότι έχεις;
