Check your bookshelf....

[pogona]

Is it just me that finds it abhorrent that we live in a society that can jail a man for 3 years for possession of knowledge.

Irrespective of his views or his intention, what this man was actually jailed for was “possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist”, ie possession of books and a blueprint. He had not attempted to blow anything up

Comments

[sea_cucumber]

That very scary. I wonder how far they take that? I have some old WW2 books about how to use grenades and stuff on my bookshelf at home (for historical purposes rather than to actually do it, of course, I don't want to blow myself up)! I also have copious notes on explosives for my A level chemistry project (I was not making explosives but I was making very dyes that were very chemically similar)! I wonder if I could get arrested? :S

[cygninae]

They'll be installing wetware next, and having people up for thoughtcrime...And most incredulous thing about this? The news article shows us images of the offending documents!

[robharper]

Please report to room 101 immediately, Mr Pogona. Your thoughtcrime cannot be tolerated.

Perhaps it is our civic duty to all possess documents that could be useful to terrorists (like maps of the London underground, perhaps, or blueprints for a 747) in order to see how far these ludicrous pro-terror laws (because, frankly, the legislative hysteria going on over the last few years can only have enhanced the sense of terror in the general population) will be pushed.

[sepheri]

My first thought was that the best way to combat this would be to encourage everyone to download the same documents and see if they will arrest the lot of us.

[osymandus]

Nothing really to make you go "damn that guys taken it past the theory stage and just might be in for blowing people up".

Yes it could be argued that the Internet was there however thats not what the judge said while passing sentence so its more a case (or appears to be ) ooh you have something that looks a bit iffy your nicked .(Many precedents from WWII with regards this , however they generally tried them on espionage charges)

[pogona]

You're refering to the computer files containing documents entitled: "Preparing the fighter who is going for jihad"; "Virtues of martyrdom in the path of Allah"; "Taking care of the family left behind by the fighter" and "How to run a training camp".
I agree that he was probably considering trying to become a terrorist, but there is a long way to travel between the thought and the deed.

Owning a Bible doesn't make me a practising Christian.
Owning John Norman's "Slave Girl of Gor" does not make me a rapist.

(Just for Clarity: the latter of these comments is for illustration only. I do not, have not, and do not intend to ever own a copy of Slave Girl of Gor")