4 ms·

28,000 people stopped using these powers - less than 56 people charged (no specific number for that so it could be significantly less than 56 as that's the numb

28,000 people stopped using these powers - less than 56 people charged (no specific number for that so it could be significantly less than 56 as that's the number of arrests). When the authorities are given such a powerful tool (and such a violating tool) it should have to prove significantly useful to continue to exist. Schedule 7 clearly hasn't. Also quite shocking that only 0.2% of people stopped are arrested and non-compliance == arrest. That's a lot of people just handing over data and passwords without a fight.

coldtea 9y ago
>When the authorities are given such a powerful tool (and such a violating tool) it should have to prove significantly useful to continue to exist Unfortunately, the only real constrain for it to not continue to exist would be to cost some people their political career due to media/public backlash and such.
- rhizome 9y ago
  Who is the last person (or any people, really) at this level who experienced an adverse effect on their political career due to "media/public backlash?"
  - coldtea 9y ago
    When was the last time that there was an actual media/public backslash on these matters?
  - white-flame 9y ago
    I think it's more that if politician A did such a thing, it would give opposing politician/party B ammo to mount a campaign to incite backlash, not that the public cares enough to backlash themselves.
DanBC 9y ago
> Also quite shocking that only 0.2% of people stopped are arrested and non-compliance == arrest. That's a lot of people just handing over data and passwords without a fight. No, you've misunderstood that. The article mentions that he's been stopped previously, and asked for his passwords, and has declined before without being arrested. So maybe that low arrest rate is a glimmer of hope: they could be arresting many more people. It still sucks, and it clearly needs reform which is unlikely under current or future governments.
- k-mcgrady 9y ago
  True, hard to draw a firm conclusion because of that point. Based on the 'leaflet' they provide when you are detained refusing to hand over passwords can lead to arrest so I drew the conclusion based on that. If we look at it the other way though (based on your point) it's also scary as if they are detaining people who then refuse to give passwords and they don't arrest them (which they have the right to do) why are those people being detained at all? Again, the correct answer if we don't know but it could speak to some degree of racial profiling or simply very poor/incompetent screening that's catching and inconveniencing a lot of people.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    Yes, the powers are really scary, and it seems obvious to me that they're being misused. The UK is weirdly comfortable with massive levels of surveillance.
    - therealidiot 9y ago
      I think most voters don't understand the issues, or feel defeated Maybe, I mean I don't know about "most voters" to be honest. I certainly feel like we're defeated and will be walked all over for the rest of our sad existence
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Selective enforcement is worse than enforcement by-the-book.
    - mc32 9y ago
      It works with traffic citations and with tax enforcement. I mean if from a behavioral perspective you're looking for a given result with minimized work, selective enforcement is a decent option.
      - Floegipoky 9y ago
        Except for the disproportionate racial bias, which we see with both airport security and traffic citations

coldtea 9y ago

>When the authorities are given such a powerful tool (and such a violating tool) it should have to prove significantly useful to continue to exist Unfortunately, the only real constrain for it to not continue to exist would be to cost some people their political career due to media/public backlash and such.

rhizome 9y ago
Who is the last person (or any people, really) at this level who experienced an adverse effect on their political career due to "media/public backlash?"
- coldtea 9y ago
  When was the last time that there was an actual media/public backslash on these matters?
- white-flame 9y ago
  I think it's more that if politician A did such a thing, it would give opposing politician/party B ammo to mount a campaign to incite backlash, not that the public cares enough to backlash themselves.

DanBC 9y ago

> Also quite shocking that only 0.2% of people stopped are arrested and non-compliance == arrest. That's a lot of people just handing over data and passwords without a fight. No, you've misunderstood that. The article mentions that he's been stopped previously, and asked for his passwords, and has declined before without being arrested. So maybe that low arrest rate is a glimmer of hope: they could be arresting many more people. It still sucks, and it clearly needs reform which is unlikely under current or future governments.

k-mcgrady 9y ago
True, hard to draw a firm conclusion because of that point. Based on the 'leaflet' they provide when you are detained refusing to hand over passwords can lead to arrest so I drew the conclusion based on that. If we look at it the other way though (based on your point) it's also scary as if they are detaining people who then refuse to give passwords and they don't arrest them (which they have the right to do) why are those people being detained at all? Again, the correct answer if we don't know but it could speak to some degree of racial profiling or simply very poor/incompetent screening that's catching and inconveniencing a lot of people.
- DanBC 9y ago
  Yes, the powers are really scary, and it seems obvious to me that they're being misused. The UK is weirdly comfortable with massive levels of surveillance.
  - therealidiot 9y ago
    I think most voters don't understand the issues, or feel defeated Maybe, I mean I don't know about "most voters" to be honest. I certainly feel like we're defeated and will be walked all over for the rest of our sad existence
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Selective enforcement is worse than enforcement by-the-book.
  - mc32 9y ago
    It works with traffic citations and with tax enforcement. I mean if from a behavioral perspective you're looking for a given result with minimized work, selective enforcement is a decent option.
    - Floegipoky 9y ago
      Except for the disproportionate racial bias, which we see with both airport security and traffic citations