Self-censorship – coming to a laptop near you
by Graham Vanbergen, from truepublica.org.uk
In our article “Britain Moves From Democracy to Authoritarian State in Pernicious Veil of Secrecy”, written back in September, we described how in little more than a decade the state has gone from an open society with, mainly democratic principles, to one that is starting to resemble an authoritarian state.
This is demonstrated no better than by a sinister mass surveillance programme instigated, developed and kept secret by the state, only to be revealed by the leaks of a whistleblower years later.
As a concerned, conscientious or just inquisitive citizen you may, quite rightly, ask why is it happening? and for whose benefit? But actually nowadays, you might not ask at all.
The word panopticon sounds sinister as well as actually being so. It describes a type of institutional building designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow all (pan-) inmates of an institution to be observed (-opticon) by a single watchman without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched. Although it is physically impossible for the single watchman to observe all cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that all inmates must act as though they are watched at all times, effectively controlling their own behaviour constantly. It appears that Bentham’s design is being adopted as a government playbook for future civil rights and liberties.
A study by the University of Oxford (Oxford Internet Institute); Citizen Lab (University of Toronto); Harvard University (Berkman Center for Internet & Society); and Dalhousie University (Schulich School of Law) demonstrated some interesting results on the modern day design being imposed upon by our ‘elected’ watchmen. The study provides evidence of the “chilling effects” of Wikipedia users associated with online government surveillance.
The study, written by Jon Penney, goes further in the summary by saying that:
In other words, like the panopticon, when we know we are being watched, in this case seeking out knowledge, attempting to understand why governments do what they do and trying to get answers on the difficult things that affect us, we are already starting to self-censor. In an attempt to avoid being suspicious, we are actively choosing not to visit particular websites out of fear.
Think about that for a moment. We are choosing not to visit a website out of fear of our own government.
The study deduces that “a 20 percent decline in page views on Wikipedia articles related to terrorism, including those that mentioned ‘al Qaeda,’ ‘car bomb’ or ‘Taliban.’” This is a clear indication that people are self-censoring, that they are afraid to find out about the effects of government decisions that not only stifles free speech but the most basic principles of any democracy no matter how young or old it may be.
As if further evidence was necessary this from The Guardian:
A postgraduate student of counter-terrorism was falsely accused of being a terrorist after an official at Staffordshire University had spotted him reading a textbook entitled Terrorism Studies in the college library.”
The unfortunate involved here was Mohammed Umar Farooq, who enrolled in the terrorism, crime and global security master’s programme, who told the Guardian that he was questioned about homosexuality, Islamic State (Isis) and al-Qaida by an official of the university. Farooq also said he had been “looking over his shoulder” ever since, and so unsettled by the incident that he chose not to return to the course. Farooq was worried he would end up on a Police watch list. After a three month investigation, Farroq was exonerated and an apology was made by the university.
The same happened to another student who was arrested under the Terrorism Act and kept in custody for six days and eventually awarded £20,000 compensation by the police after three years of investigation. Rizwaan Sabir, 22, who was studying for a master’s at Nottingham University, was arrested after downloading a terrorist manual for his research on al Qaeda.
UK advocacy group Cage confirmed that they have received dozens and dozens of such cases just like that of Farooq and Sabir.
This is the result of the British government’s new anti-radicalisation policy – one that is constructing the architecture of societal paranoia, starting in academia. This is also confirmed by Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, which represents more than 120,000 academics and lecturers at universities and colleges across the UK. Back in September last year she said that the government plans on radicalisation were “baffling and fostered mistrust between lecturers and students.”
Then we have the BBC who reported that the British Library has declined to store a large collection of Taliban-related documents because of concerns regarding terrorism laws:
The collection, related to the Afghan Taliban, includes official newspapers, maps and radio broadcasts. Academics have criticised the decision saying it would be a valuable resource to understand the ongoing insurgency in Afghanistan. The library said it feared it could be in breach of counter-terrorism laws. It said it had been legally advised not to make the material accessible.”
Alex Strick van Linschoten, an author and researcher who helped spearhead the project said:
There’s no recipes for making bombs or anything like that. These are documents that would help people understand history, whether it’s Afghans trying to learn about their recent past, or outsiders wanting to understand the movement.”
Linschten went further to say:
…there is a climate of fear among academics who study this kind of material because UK law is very loose.”
America’s ‘Domestic Surveillance Directorate‘ – a website run by the NSA – makes the worryingly Orwellian statement: “Your Data: If You Have Nothing to Hide, You Have Nothing to Fear” (literally, it does say that) that should make most of us even more suspicious of their intentions.
Back in Britain, it’s more subtle. From GCHQ:
We are very aware of the responsibility that comes with the nature of our work, and in addition to our legal accountability we also take the ethical considerations surrounding our mission seriously.”
That didn’t stop them breaking laws, domestically and internationally, on an industrial scale. Once challenged, the government simply went ahead and changed the law – so it wasn’t being broken.
In the end, persecution of whistleblowers like Snowden, Assange and Manning gives out a huge message to the citizens of so-called modern democracies. So does the release of data from the Panama Papers, the Swiss Leaks, Lux Leaks and TTIP leaks.
Bentham’s ‘panopticon is a useful tool used by government’s all over the world, Britain and America included, to change the behaviour of the masses. It does so as Bentham designed, to instil despair and anxiety in order that those in power continue their reign of anarchy across the world. Be it a corporate takeover of sovereign nations such as TTIP, CETA and TTP or en-masse taxation crimes to name just a couple, whilst everyone else bows their heads, eyes to the floor for fear of being caught looking up.
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
Reblogged this on Eurasia News Online.
Reblogged this on Worldtruth.
I think it is important for the record to note that Bentham was a reformer, and that the gaol design to to significantly IMPROVE the lot of prisoners by housing them humanely.
For the rest, it stands moderately well – we all think twice about certain searches
Despite repeatedly declining attempts by Microsoft to update Window 7 to Windows 10,
on my laptop, the software has been installed against my wishes. Some people claim Windows 10 contains spy software. According to ‘Private Eye’, Google Chrome contains spy software, but the user has to give permission to switch it on (“so that’s all right, then”, as they put it.) Windows 10 supports a small number of reputable search engines, to protect you from phishing etc. – including Google Chrome. This legal, is it? I’m sure they can arrange for it to be so, if not.
“he was questioned about homosexuality, Islamic State and Al-Qaeda”
Sounds like MI5 looking for fresh recruits/patsies.
I found this article dangerously subversive (is this okay Mr. Gates, sir? Lurve Monsanto BTW.)
try Ubuntu – it’s freeware, and supports a lot of applications
You can roll back to Windows 7 within 30 days of the change. Apparently Microsoft changed the interface on the W10 popup so that clicking in the “x” signals acceptance of the update. Not technically “forcing” you to update, but certainly conning you into doing so.
Big question is – why does Microsoft, the greediest corp on the planet that never gave away a free OS before, now suddenly want so bad for us all to update to W10
You should know this by now. I apologise the length, again, hehe sorry. Its an massive span in this. Decades of propaganda, deacdes of whorespondents druling on the tube, prestitutes have lied about everything for eons, since Guttenbergs days, when propaganda gott its rebirth in mass scale. Decades of sites as TV channels pimping war propaganda, historys faked so hard its bearhtaking to watch, and so on, perseptions builded for decades about f…. everything. Even food, shuggar and fat, some years ago, they claimed it was suicide to eat 6 eggs within an day because that colestrole would kill you instantly, yea, and the sience was as snow is, an thing of the past, and sicence was and stil is, hehe ,seltled. As one ex. of self censur ship and this one is so bloddy logicaly and so detucativly f….. obvious its scary, vaccines. This ladys and gentlemen is not… Read more »
I think the ‘spiritual’ beliefs of the cabal are important, though it makes me sound insane to talk of such things (I’m really past caring about that.) I think light is illusion, so they worship the light as the sun, as lucifer (the light bearer) and various syncretic variations. Hence, also, colour revolutions and team red/team blue “democracy.” Note that the two investigators who gained access to Bohemia Grove (Alex Jones and ‘Guardian’ contributor Jon Ronson) are thought by many to be gate-keepers/controlled opposition. Surely B.G., where world leaders meet, would be one of the most secure places in the world, like the Pentagon (LOL.) There are many Christian ‘truthers’ out there, and it worries me that the cabal play up to their satanist/illuminati reputation, not just to induce fear, but as part of the Hegelian dialectic. ‘Truthers’ tend to explain all the in-your-face occultism as Theosophical ‘externalisation of the… Read more »
Makes you wonder of the Snowden thingy wasn’t a big psy-op, doesn’t it?
Robert Anton Wilson, who wrote fiction and non-fiction about the deep state and secret societies, used to say that there was no such thing as ‘ex’ CIA. ie. that intelligence whistle-blowers were just following another script. He was a member of the O.T.O. ,so you have to take his statements with a pinch of salt, too. You can’t dismiss everything they say either, because they mix lies with truth, according to… Edward Snowden. There are quite a few of these ex intelligence/military types in the alternative media, such as ‘Dr’ John Coleman, Bill Cooper (deceased) and Brian Gerrish. Approach with caution. Bradley Manning and David Shayler are both now transexuals. Many ‘truthers’ see ‘The Matrix’ as some sort of revelation (or at least use the ‘Clubbed to Death’ music on their youtube vids) The Wachowski brothers are now sisters. It really isn’t just a ‘trend.’ The Information Age is just… Read more »
There’s an awful lot of holes in Snowden’s story.
One thing I don’t understand: if Snowden really is a CIA psy-op, then why are the Russians are giving him asylum?
I don’t know.
Reblogged this on TheFlippinTruth.
Please note that the Domestic Surveillance Directorate declaring ‘If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear’ is in fact a parody site and not run by NSA at all. This does not make NSA, GCHQ, Prism, and the rest any less detestable. NSA’s real tagline is ‘What we’re doing to secure the future’, which is bad enough!
See Forbes article about this (Aug 29, 2013).
On the subject of accessing material in the British Library it is not simply limited to the quoted example.
Trying to access the work of Norman Finklestein also gets the censorship treatment. See here:
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2016/05/03/how-british-holocaust-mongers-and-israel-hacks-filter-out-the-truth/
I guess authors taking on ‘controversial’ and ‘publically inappropriate’ subject matter will just have to get clever about their book titles. Now I’m not making any claim to being at all clever, but maybe a guy like Norman, I mean Finkelstein and not Pilon, taking on “how in fact British holocaust mongers and Israel hacks filter out the truth,” could title a book like that with something innocuous like, “How Historians Sometimes Get It Wrong: a Short History of Certain Vested Interests.” Anyway, f***k Bentham, the panopticon, and the surveillance states (I self-censored there for the sake of people easily offended by cusswords. I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m easily intimidated, especially by the fucktards who run our global asylum).
Reblogged this on EU: Ramshackle Empire.