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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday October 13 2016, @02:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the chipping-away-at-freedom dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A man has appeared in court in London on six counts of terrorism -- one of which was related to researching and using encryption.

Samata Ullah, 33, appeared in court last week charged under the Terrorism Act 2006.

The Metropolitan Police said in a press release that Ullah was charged with one count of providing instructions in the use of encryption to a person who was preparing an act of terrorism.

But a second charge relating to his use of encryption cites a controversial statute under British law, which in the name of a terrorism offense can criminalize acts that on their own are legal.

Specifically, Ullah was charged with a count of preparing to engage in an act of terrorism namely by "researching an encryption program, developing an encrypted version of his blog site and publishing the instructions around the use of program on his blog site."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @02:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @02:42AM (#413741)

    "from the chipping-away-at-freedom dept."

    s/chipping/hammering/

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:00AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:00AM (#413745)

      Imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by martyb on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:13AM

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:13AM (#413748) Journal
    Sebz jung V ernq urer, gurer vf ab qvssrerapr va gur ynj jurgure gur npphfrq znqr hfr bs n fvzcyr plcure (nf jnf hfrq urer) be fbzrguvat pbzchgngvbanyyl vasrnfvoyr gb oernx, fhpu nf EFN jvgu bire sbhe gubhfnaq ovgf. Qbrf guvf znxr frafr?
    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:20AM (#413750)

      Bar yrggre jbeq. Pncvgny yrggre. I vf V orpnhfr anepvffvfgf ybir gb gnyx nobhg gurzfryirf. Nun! Vg'f EBG13. Shpx zr, V'z yvxr n fhcretravhf pelcgnanylfg.

    • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:45AM

      by Whoever (4524) on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:45AM (#413756) Journal

      Nofbyhgryl abg!

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:04AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:04AM (#413761)

        I'm a Muslim and I'm reporting this.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:21AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:21AM (#413764)

          The joke will be on you after you get charged with terrorism for drawing attention to yourself.

        • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @11:58AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @11:58AM (#413847)

          Et tu, Mohammed?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @05:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @05:49PM (#413996)

      what about r'yleh? i thought that guy was supposed to be sleeping, but then if he was running in this election he'd provide a greater evil for us to choose.

  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:49AM

    by Whoever (4524) on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:49AM (#413757) Journal

    Yrg'f gel gb unir nyy gur pbzzragf va ebg13 (be rira daf12, ad eayq aftqd zgynqd)?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:56AM (#413758)

      Oh look, someone found the dropdown list. Page views for ROT13.com are going to skyrocket tonight.</sarcasm>

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:25AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:25AM (#413765)

        That's nothing. To make sure I have full Unicode support, I use ROT-FF along with UTF-8.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:47AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:47AM (#413794)

          Daaaamn, never thought SN would be a cryptographic breeding ground! High fives all around!

        • (Score: 2) by ticho on Thursday October 13 2016, @09:50AM

          by ticho (89) on Thursday October 13 2016, @09:50AM (#413817) Homepage Journal

          Got to make those emojis secure, man!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @12:25PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @12:25PM (#413854)

        klaatu barada nikto

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by archfeld on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:00AM

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:00AM (#413759) Journal

    One would really hope that this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is more to this story than we see currently. At the bottom of this slippery slope is a boy scout going to jail for helping a Muslim lady crossing the street, and a public school science teacher giving instructions to someone on an anonymous terror watch list.

    --
    For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:27AM (#413766)

      There was plenty to the story, and it seems the guy was probably arrested legitimately for being involved. The problem is that instead of just simple conspiracy to commit terrorism charges they have criminalized a non-criminal act. THAT is a problem, because now they can criminalize everything by connecting it to terrorism in whatever tenuous fashion they please. Give a friend a ride not knowing he's meeting up with some buddies to plan some bad shit? Ooooh, now you're in jail for transporting terrorists.

      Yeah, this will end well for some poor bastards. I was going to say "I'll just go be a hermit now" but that will tag me for possible McVeigh (?) profiling; or whoever the guy was that lived in the middle of nowhere and blew some shit up.

      Hello black boot my old friend,
      You've come to stomp my face again
      Because an agent softly creeping
      Planting evidence while I was sleeping
      And the agent who then crept close
      Whispered quiet
      Do another ... nine eleven

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @12:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @12:33PM (#413861)

        Those laws are there to fight terrorists, so arguing against those laws means hindering the fight against terrorist, thus helping terrorists, which obviously is a crime.

      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday October 13 2016, @02:20PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday October 13 2016, @02:20PM (#413905)

        I was going to say "I'll just go be a hermit now" but that will tag me for possible McVeigh (?) profiling; or whoever the guy was that lived in the middle of nowhere and blew some shit up.

        You're thinking of Ted Kaczynski, A.K.A. The Unabomber.

        etc.

        An unjust law is no law at all. [wikipedia.org]

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Thursday October 13 2016, @05:46AM

      by tftp (806) on Thursday October 13 2016, @05:46AM (#413779) Homepage

      and a public school science teacher giving instructions to someone on a SECRET terror watch list.

      FTFY.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Max Hyre on Friday October 14 2016, @10:38PM

      by Max Hyre (3427) <{maxhyre} {at} {yahoo.com}> on Friday October 14 2016, @10:38PM (#414464)
      After all, he wrote the book [alibris.com]. Any terrorist can pick up a copy for £1 or so, and then where would he be?
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Chromium_One on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:04AM

    by Chromium_One (4574) on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:04AM (#413762)

    Criminalizing otherwise legal activities "because they're related to terrorism" is in no way problematic, and there is no conceivable way this could be abused.

    Now then, excuse me, I'm off to try and plea-bargain down that extra five years that was added to my sentence after police discovered it was a brown man that owned the bagel stand I stopped at this morning, while on my way to a political rally.

    --
    When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:31AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:31AM (#413767)

    I mean if the fucker is a terrorist just shoot him. Don't try to pin bogus charges on him for doing normal stuff. I don't see any high horse politicians living in glass houses either...

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Bogsnoticus on Thursday October 13 2016, @05:21AM

    by Bogsnoticus (3982) on Thursday October 13 2016, @05:21AM (#413774)

    Changing his blog from using http, to https, would effectively be him "developing an encrypted version of his blog site".
    The research you would do prior to the changeover would constitute "researching an encryption program", and simply providing a FAQ informing his subscribers would count as "publishing the instructions around the use of program on his blog site".

    What's next?
    Making the plod get off their fat arses to come and nick you in person instead of you turning yourself in counts as "hindering a police investigation"?
    Wearing clothes is "Attempting to conceal your identity"?

    --
    Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:42AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:42AM (#413792)

      - nightmares
      - depends on their blood sugar level, last caffeine / nicotine hit, and never forget their relationship troubles. So probably yes.
      - yes

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by bradley13 on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:18AM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:18AM (#413787) Homepage Journal

    In the US, I understand that prosecutors like to have all these laws. It enables them to "pile on" charges, in order to intimidate defendants (even innocent defendants) into a plea bargain. [nytimes.com]

    In the UK? Elsewhere in the world? Why do laws like this exist?

    IMHO nothing derivative should be prohibited, because those are precisely the laws that wind up jailing innocent people, or people that the current government happens to dislike. Just as an example: Murder? Illegal. Hate crime? No such thing, because you can't outlaw, or even properly define "hate". It's the killing that constitutes the crime.

    TFA: Here's a more details listing of charges [police.uk]. It appears that no actual terrorist incident occurred. The core charges are:

    - Count 1: Membership in ISIS, a proscribed organization.

    - Count 4: Being in a leader position in a terrorist organization.

    Everything else is total crap. We have:

    - Count 2: Teaching people about encryption.

    - Count 3: Putting encryption on his blog (https?), and writing a blog article about encryption.

    - Count 5: Possessing a bootable USB-stick.

    - Count 6: Possessing two books (one paper, one eBook) on the topic of missiles.

    None of those latter four should be crimes, under any circumstances whatsoever. If the government can't prove counts 1 and 4, the guy must be considered innocent. If they can prove charges 1 and 4, they don't need the others. So again, why do they exist?

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:24AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:24AM (#413789)

      ITAR

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:44AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @06:44AM (#413793)

      - Bradley13 -
            2016

    • (Score: 1) by Chrontius on Thursday October 13 2016, @08:23AM

      by Chrontius (5246) on Thursday October 13 2016, @08:23AM (#413805)

      Jesus, I can't count how many Jane's books I checked out in elementary school - though my favorite was always armored fighting vehicles.

      If they're going to take offense at people reading about missiles, the world has clearly changed.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 13 2016, @10:59AM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 13 2016, @10:59AM (#413833) Journal

        The world has clearly changed.

        Shall we change it back?

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @12:37PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @12:37PM (#413863)

        Also, possessing a bootable USB stick? I guess I'd be in trouble as well, as I like to have a rescue system available.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 14 2016, @01:19AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 14 2016, @01:19AM (#414133)

          rescue disk? what are you, a life guard or somethin?

    • (Score: 2) by bziman on Thursday October 13 2016, @01:41PM

      by bziman (3577) on Thursday October 13 2016, @01:41PM (#413883)

      - Count 1: Membership in ISIS, a proscribed organization.

      In the United States, even this shouldn't be prosecuted, as Americans have a right to free association.

      Until you actually harm or attempt to harm someone, you can hate all you want and share that hate with your buddies.

      Sadly, the UK does not have these rights... we will see where common law takes them in this case. Probably to jail, because no one is willing to stand up for the rights of so-called terrorists.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:07PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @03:07PM (#413926)

        Right to free association? Not really.

        I bet if you just told people that you were an ISIS member, the cops would arrest you.

        You can't even protest without getting your face pepper-sprayed. And they like it that way.

        I bet you know what they call this type of country or state.

        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:35PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:35PM (#413960)

          I bet you know what they call this type of country or state.

          Home of the brave, because you have to be brave to live there? :-)

      • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday October 13 2016, @08:16PM

        by t-3 (4907) on Thursday October 13 2016, @08:16PM (#414064)

        They could probably still prosecute that in the US using RICO laws.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13 2016, @04:37PM (#413963)

      What we have here is a case of knowingly providing aid to a person who intends to commit a serious criminal offence, with that aid being relevant to the crime.

      Heck yeah that should be a crime. It's the same as driving a get-away car. (plain driving is not illegal) It's the same as lending your shovel to someone who intends to bury evidence such as a body. (merely lending a shovel to an ordinary non-criminal is fine)

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 14 2016, @08:43AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 14 2016, @08:43AM (#414201)
        You're missing the point. Nobody is complaining about the first charge of helping others. We're objecting about the other charge.

        I've no problems with getting people for what they've done. The problem is this is practically making up crimes. e.g. you murder someone then use encryption for your diary. Instead of only charging you for murder they add on another charge for using encryption, because it's now somehow illegal because of the first charge.

        That's bullshit and that's a problem.

        This like mob justice without both mob and justice ;).