Charged with possession of a book?

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Then I thought, what about chemistry students - surely anyone taking a chemistry degree (heck, even an A-level) could easily be training for the purposes of terrorism. And possession of a chemistry text book is surely going to enable the owner to use their knowledge of organic chemistry to make bombs..

Well, your partly right. The lecturuers do have to be carefull to keep an eye out for anyone who seems "suspicious" - one of my leacturers was telling me in the first year that since all of this terrorism bisiness got really in the public eye that everything has become much harder to get, just incase someone sneaks it out for a bomb.

I mean, you can make an explosive from hydrogen peroxide and nail varnish remover (acetone), if your clever enough.

And TNT isnt the hardest thing to make either!

Matt

I totally agree that by banning books will make them more popular, but this isn't just some old war relic, the war against terror is a current issue and as such I think anyone in possession of one is up to something naughty. Similarly, if you were caught in 1944 in posession of Nazi propaganda you'd have been accused of being a German spy and marched off to the local plod. OK, 60 years later its a different story but not then. Some things you do and some you don't as they are just stupid, especially when you're a young Muslim in a today's world, and owning an AlQueida manual is asking for trouble.

And bigape, I had a likewise with the security at Birmingham airport 2 years ago, apparently the small roll of black electrical tape which was in the bottom of my hand luggage was a contraband item. Allegedly I could, if I wanted to hijack the plane that is, tie someone to their seat. My reply "WTF? Yeah, so how many hijackers bring their wife, kids and the in-laws on terror mission. Oh and do you want my shoe laces aswell?" Ridiculous.

Originally Posted by rictus01

I'd have to come down on the side of MiniMatt here, books don't hurt anyone (OK the corners are a bit sharp if thrown )

I can vouch for that. Hit me dad just under the eye once, gave him a right shiner!

You can make "explosive devices" out of a lot of things these days. Hell, give me a can of fizzy pop, a couple of sweets & a bag of nails. I'll give you a rocket propelled nail gun!

It might also interest you to know theatres don't escape the strong arm of the terrorism act either. Imagine if someone walked out of a theatre holding a prop that had a couple of wires hanging out of it, and a digital countdown clock on the front! Madness gone mad it is!

[timwilky]

Originally Posted by rictus01

I remember some years back the spy book, had to get a copy from Australia as you couldn't buy it here, was crap, but apparently true about the secret service banning it made a crap book into a best seller, that worked well didn't it


Cheers Mark.

Yes, I felt so proud to get my copy of Peter Wright's Spycatcher. Started interesting, but quickly became a bitter moan about his lack of a pension and the ban made it a best seller when without the ban it would have died a natural death for being a crap book.

True, there is no good reason to own such a manual. beyond curiousity. However, I know Blair and his cronies are control freaks but the last people who banned certain books were the nazis with their bonfires of 1933 and look how they finally ended. So farenheight 451 here we come

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Yep your swiss army knife is likely to land you in hot water - especially if you have one with a lock mechanism.

Up on presenting my leatherman to sid squid to open a box of chocolates the other day, i believe the reaction was "Thats not a knife, thats a weapon"

I find it bloody useful though, owning a triumph and all...

Dan

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Baph

You can make "explosive devices" out of a lot of things these days. Hell, give me a can of fizzy pop, a couple of sweets & a bag of nails. I'll give you a rocket propelled nail gun!

.Org, I give you.....


MacGyver

i know someone with a pdf version of it, just out of curiosity. (i don't know if he can read any of it, i presume it must be written in english).
maybe you should google the patriot act. - an act passed in america that was made 'against terrorism' that stated if someone acted 'against the interests of the country' they could be arrested and held indefinitely regardless of evidence prior to prosecution. So far this act has been used for arresting everybody, including people for drugs charges as it requires such little evidence. Britain has an equivalent 'anti terrorism' rule thats abused

[Biker Biggles]

George Orwell was a truely brilliant man.He may have been slightly out on the date,but his vision of the future was remarkably accurate.

All this talk of an Al Qeada manual...just what the hell IS an Al Qeada manual? a load of rhetoric? an Islamic version of the Anarchist cook book? what?,

Originally Posted by PsychoCannon

just what the hell IS an Al Qeada manual? a load of rhetoric? an Islamic version of the Anarchist cook book? what?,

I'd imagine it's just elements from the Anarchists cookbook, but those elements have been expanded upon.

I doubt that blue-boxing (no, that's not a fight with gloves on in winter ) would be that useful to terrorists these days, given that the phone systems now make it nigh on impossible to achieve. Explosives from fertiliser on the other hand...