Some information for those who are interested in resistance to surveillance,
from the legendary Brighton-based "schnews" organisation.
From: "schnews" <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Issue 232, Friday 15th October 1999
Date: Thu, Nov 25, 1999, 12:55 pm
This is SchNEWS, the weekly direct action newsletter published by Justice?
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WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YER PEEPING TOM
SchNEWS
Published in Brighton by Justice? - Brighton's Direct Action collective
Issue 232, Friday 15th October 1999
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RANCID CAMERA
"The time has come to remind the villains that we are there. Use the
cameras to search the street for likely looking individuals...zoom in and
out, look for faces, potential suspects, potential victims, move the camera
around from time to time to let them know you're alert."
- Police Memo to Camera Operators.
The camera never lies. Maybe not, but according to a new study into the
rising tide of surveillance in the U.K. - camera operators, police,
politicians and the media lie as regularly about CCTV as Clinton under oath
'The Maximum Surveillance Society -The rise of CCTV' shows how CCTV
evidence is being suppressed and distorted by those in charge of the UK's
Big Brother spy camera technology.
WATCH OUT!
Based on 600 hundred hours of research from CCTV monitoring rooms, findings
showed 'suspect targets' most likely to be filmed were "disproportionately
young, male, black and working class." Black men were twice as likely to be
filmed as white men, women were often tracked by camera operators for the
'titillation factor,' and if you wear a puffa, designer trainers and drive
a flash car - more likely than not- you've been framed.
Several instances of CCTV operators turning a blind eye to some of the
worst scenes of 'Police, Camera, Actual Bodily Harm' were also recorded.
One off duty copper was also filmed coming out of a night-club, shouting
racist crap at three black men. When a fight broke out, 20 uniformed cops
arrived and arrested two of the men, presumably letting their mate head off
for his kebab. The footage was deleted and the police officer responsible
never prosecuted.
Other reported incidents included an operator zooming in and catching a
police officer "punching a young man inside a police van." On another a man
and woman were tracked from the moment they left a night-club, identified
as 'suspects' and later picked up and arrested for 'breach of the peace'
when the woman stopped for a piss in a doorway. In both cases the camera
operators either missed the record button or were busy looking for bra
straps through the monitor.
But it's not just the camera operators and police that are busy fuzzing the
picture. The first investigation in '95 by the Home Office, was based on
information taken from the police, local authorities and private security
companies. In Birmingham, the report said, crime levels were up 3 times
from when CCTV was first installed. So to avoid embarrassment, when Home
Secretary Howard announced a #15 million package for city centre CCTV in
November 1995, he censored the Birmingham chapter and released the report
in the media 'low' between Xmas and New Year.
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VIEWERS CHOICE
New Labour's track record on distorting the digital picture is as equally
impressive. A 2 year study commissioned by the Home Office released on July
15th demonstrated that CCTV does not reduce crime. The research showed
that, in Glasgow, crime had increased by 9% over the first year, and also
risen in Wales. Yet those findings - virtually unreported in the national
press - did not stop Home Secretary Jack Straw announcing a #170 million
package for installing CCTV systems over the next 3 years - enough for
40,000 cameras.
There are over 500,000 CCTV cameras in operation in the U.K. today, and the
surveillance industry is worth #2 billion a year. When no one is watching
the watchers, who can say where this CCTV footage goes? At a rape trial in
Nottingham earlier this year the suspect was cleared after the defence
council discovered a tape which proved the man's innocence. The police had
not disclosed the footage as evidence (Guardian 15/7/99).
Local councils are using CCTV to put entire residential neighbourhoods
under surveillance, with the footage collected as evidence to prosecute and
evict 'anti-social elements.' In Hull, private detectives were hired by the
local council to install covert cameras inside the home of a suspected drug
dealer on the Bransholme Estate. The edited highlights were eventually
shown in court and the person evicted. In Newcastle's West End estate there
are 15 'vandalproof' spy cameras monitored by a single 'dedicated' police
operation room. And in Wolverhampton, education
budgets for books have instead been splashed out on a flash 16-strong
camera network to watch out for evil crack dealers in the playground.
While the UK is fast moving towards the ‘Maximum Surveillance Society’ the
technology remains vulnurable to human error. Tapes are accidentally
erased, networks fail and shit happens. Under the 1998 UK Data Protection
Act, everyone has a right to access data and digital images that is held on
them - be it bank records CCTV footage for the cost of a tenner. So if you
think you´ve been recorded on CCTV by some pervy policeman without your
permission then it might be worth looking into. “The Maximum Surveillance
Soci ety” - Morris and Armstrong, Berg publishers, 1999. UK Data Protection
Registrar, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire , SK9 5AF.
Data protection act: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm
Privacy International, PO Box 3157, Brighton, BN2 2SS. Web Site
http://www.privacy.org/
VEGETABLE OF THE WEEK
The humble brussel sprout. A man managed to escape the long arm of the law
last week, after a cop giving chase in Circus Street, Brighton, slipped on
a brussel sprout and injured himself. Despite the slip, the police officer
still reckons it‘s his favourite veg. (come off it, no-ones favourite
vegetable is a sprout).
GLOBAL ECHELON DAY
October 21st. Cyber hacktivists are calling on people to send an email
containing 50 subversive words and jam the global surveillance system
ECHELON which routinely trawls the airwaves and telephone networks for
‘subversive’ keywords. So kill Clinton´s semtex dealing terrorist
organisation.
http://www.wodip.opole.pl/~laslo/Echelon-links.html
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STUDENT TRAINING DAY
Fancy joining SchNEWS biscuit eating crew? We‘re having a student training
day next Weds (20th) 12 noon at Justice HQ. Give us a call to sign up for
this truly great opportunity.
* Help! Got some spare time on a Friday afternoon? We need someone to
drop SchNEWS off round town, and people to help with mail out.
We also need people to help out going through our emails on a Monday - we
had 350 messages this week. Aren‘t we a popular square-eyed bunch..
So the message is - we need help!!
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Y2K BOLLOCKS OF THE WEEK
SchNEWS hit by millenium bug shocker.
Not content with bombarding us with endless emails about the end of the
world, Y2K ‘enthusiasts’ managed to bring down SchNEWS e-mail system this
week by sending us loads of pictures about the millenium bug. Can someone
please tell us what the fuck a picture of the millenium bug looks like?
RICKY REEL R.I.P.
On 14th October ’97 20 year old Lakhvinder (Ricky) Reel and 3 friends were
attacked and racially abused in Kingston. Terrified they fled the scene.
That was the last time Ricky was seen alive. A week later his body was
found in the Thames near the scene of the attack.Despite immediately
reporting the attack, no action was taken by for a week, during which time
the family organised search parties and interviewed witnesses. When the
police search was carried out it took only 7 minutes to locate Ricky’s
body. That evening, before the post mortem was completed, the police
concluded that there was no need to carry out a seperate investigation. As
a result Ricky’s death remains a mystery.
The police’s conclusion, that Ricky died instantly having slipped into the
river while urinating has not changed despite serious concerns voiced by an
independent pathologist. After a second post-mortem, he asked how Ricky
fell into the water backwards while urinating; that he didn’t die instantly
and could have attempted to swim.
Once again it was left to a bereaved family to set up a campaign to
persuade the authorities to carry out a detailed investigation and find
answers to the following questions ; why were the police so slow to
respond, why wasn’t the racial incident investigated immediately and
properly and why did it take until last week for a TV appeal?
The family and campaign have not given up hope. Yesterday a candlelit vigil
took place near where Ricky’s body was found, and on Oct 20th parliament
are debating Ricky’s case and the family’s rights to access the police
report. The following day the family are hopefully giving a petition to
Jack Straw at 11am and holding a vigil outside the Commons from 12-1pm to
commemorate the anniversary of the discovery of his body.
The inquest starts on Nov 1st at Fulham Coroners Court, despite the family
requesting the case be heard in Hammersmith.
Justice for Ricky Reel Campaign, c/o Southall Monitoring Group, Unity, PO
Box 304, Southall, Middlesex, UB2 5YR. Tel. 0181 843 2333. Donations to the
campaign are desperately needed.
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DRIVEN MAD
The Consumer Association have made a promise to lower the price of cars,
saying that motorists are being overcharged. But what about the hidden
costs motorists get away with ?
In 1996 3,598 people were killed, 48,071 seriously injured and 320,302
slightly injured on the roads, using up around 10% of the country’s
hospital resources.
According to the British Lung Foundation, pollution related health problems
cost the country #11 billion a year. The overall bill from road transport
(air pollution, congestion, accidents, road damage and global warming)
costs between a trival #45.9 to #52.9 billion. Surprisingly road users only
pay a third of these costs.
As Transport 2000 point out ,”The private car is responsible for a limited
range of benefits for a limited section of the community, and almost
entirely responsible for the costs borne by the whole community.”
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SCHNEWS IN BRIEF
* “Free For All” is the new play by the Banner Theatre who have somehow
managed make the governments dodgy Private Finance Iniative (see
SchNEWS 210/219 entertaining. It’s based on extensive video and audio
recordings with people who fought to set up the NHS interwoven with
satirical sketches, songs and video projections. It’ll cost you #600 +
petrol to book, if you’re interested ring 0121 440 0460
* This Saturday is international anti McDonalds Day. In Brighton there
will be a picket outside the Western Rd branch from 12.30 pm
* Workers in Turkey honoured the appearance of a government Minister at
the offical opening of an animal hospital in Izmir on World Animal Day
by sacrificng a ram and calf
* Morgenmuffel is a cute little zine full of excellent cartoons and
little stories like Isy’s cravings for cake and sex. Send some stamps
+ sae to Box B, 21 Little Preston St., Brighton, BN1 2HQ
* Faster than a speeding bullet, as invisible as x-rays, perhaps a
little more detectible than an undercover cop, microwave weaponry
won’t cook yer food and make it taste horrible, no it’ll fry yer brain
and leave you scared and slightly soggy. Protest peacefully at the
House of Commons, 12 pm Tues 19th Oct
* CND have organised demonstrations on Saturday 30th October against
shipments of nuclear waste from Germany. Transport is going from
Brighton. Tickets from the Peace Centre
* Last Sunday over 600 students from across the country gathered in
Oxford to launch this year’s fees non-payment campaign. Campaign for
Free Education PO Box 22615, London N4 1WT. Tel: 0958 556 756
http://members.xoom.com/nus_cfe/
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AT THE EDGE
The Caraquan environmental group, who recently stopped a new Tescos
supermarket outside Wellington in Somerset being built, need to hear from
anyone who wants to play a benefit gig to help them raise cash to fight
against the councils next venture. An initial impact study on local trade
in the town was carried out by Debenham Thorpe (who work for Tescos and
unsurprisingly found in favour of the scheme) was later found to contain
major mistakes. An independant report found that “there was no need for an
edge of town supermarket at all.” However, the council have since announced
that they were much more interested all along in a new development of
houses shops and a northern bypass on the other side of Wellington. Contact
Caraquan 01823 665592
HAPPY SHOPPER
Students in America held demonstrations at Wal-Mart stores (the supermarket
chain that has just bought ASDA) last week after hearing of the sweatshop
working conditions
Sacked workers from El Salvador toured U.S. universities last week, telling
students about the conditions they have to endure making Wal-Mart’s Kathie
Lee labels. 15 - 20 hour days, poverty wages and people fainting at work
because of the heat. When workers tried to change these conditions, they
were fired, black-listed, and their lives threatened.
* ‘Managing the Wal- Mart Effect’ a half-day conference all about the
companies corporate culture like driving costs out of the system and
bascially trying to take over the supermarket world. Only #450 + VAT -
designed to keep protestors away perhaps? Thursday 18th November at
the Millennium Britannia Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London W1 Tel 020
7247 0367
* The last issue of Ethical Consumer carried a two page article about
Wal-Mart. Copies from Unit 21, 41 Old Birley St., Manchester, M15 5RF
* Out of town supermarkets trying to muscle in your area, check out
http://www.sprawl-busters.com/
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INSIDE SCHNEWS
MUMIA’S DEATH WARRANT SIGNED
After 16 years on death row, African-American journalist and activist Mumia
Abu-Jamal(see SchNEWS 228)’s death warrant has been signed and the date for
his execution set for December 2nd. A stay of execution is expected to be
granted in a few days, however the worldwide protests that prevented
Mumia’s death in 1995 must be repeated. Protests are planned across the U.S
(contact www.mumia.org or www.freemumia.org). Over here there’s a Mumia
Must Live! meeting at the Anarchist Bookfair this Saturday at 1pm. Contact
Mumia Must Live! BM Haven, London WC1N 3XX email [log in to unmask] web
http://www.callnetuk.com/home/mumiaining/
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APEING SUCCESS
New Zealand’s Parliament created a world first last week by passing the
Animal Welfare Act. The Act bans the use of all great apes in research,
testing, or teaching “unless such use is in the best interests of the
non-human hominid” or its species. There are five great ape species:
chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and humans, and all are in the
same genetic family.The recognition is based on scientific evidence that
the nonhuman great apes share not only our genes but also basic human
mental traits, such as self-awareness, intelligence and other forms of
mental insight, complex communications and social systems, and even the
ability to master some human language skills.
The Great Ape Project , P.O. Box 19492, Portland, OR 97280-0492
[log in to unmask]
* A man who received a baboon liver in an experimental transplant became
infected with a herpes virus from the animal and later died. The
patient, a 35 year-old HIV sufferer, was cured of the virus after
being treated with drugs but eventually died of his liver disease.
Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh said the evidence that
animal diseases could be passed on to humans through transplants
placed a major obstacle in the way of future operations. Dan from
Uncaged told SchNEWS “It re-inforces our view that going ahead with
animal to human transplants would be like playing Russian roulette
with the entire human population.”
* ‘The Science and Ethics of Xenotransplantation’ #6 from Uncaged, 14
Ridgeway Rd., Sheffield, S12 2SS Tel 0114 2530020
http://www.uncaged.co.uk/
AND FINALLY
CONKERETE JUNGLES
Look out kids! Those nasty corporations are after yer conkers. A shadowy
organisation known only as ActionAid is attempting to patent conkers under
dodgy trade laws which allow companies to patent life forms. The
application entitled “Conk 1” is thankfully just a joke but as Isabel
McCrea from ActionAid points out, “it highlights the ease with which new
regulations on patenting life forms can be used to deprive people of rights
they have always taken for granted. Having the potential to charge school
kids for playing conkers in the UK is just the thin end of the wedge.
Already companies are taking out patents on food crops such as basmati
rice, despite the fact that basmati has been grown across Asia for hundreds
of years, and has been developed by farming practice through generations.
Patenting natural resources is wrong. It is ‘biopiracy’. In the Third World
it will make poor farmers even poorer if they have to pay royalties.”
* The ‘patents for life’ regulation is due to be discussed at next
month’s World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle. More on the summit
very soon readers.
DISCLAIMER
SchNEWS warns all paranoids to stop looking behind their shoulders, cos
you’re making the rest of us nervous!! that’s for real
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