When neo-Nazi James Von Brunn opened fire at the U.S. Holocaust Museum and Europe’s far-Right won major victories in the same week, the fascist, terrorist threat to the U.S. both home and abroad became too large to ignore.

This one is pretty good too

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6501720.ece

The first “anti-stab” knife is to go on sale in Britain, designed to work as normal in the kitchen but to be ineffective as a weapon.

The knife has a rounded edge instead of a point and will snag on clothing and skin to make it more difficult to stab someone.

It was invented by industrial designer John Cornock, who was inspired by a documentary in which doctors advocated banning traditional knives.

Mr Cornock, 42, from Swindon, said that the knife will cut vegetables, but will make it almost impossible to stab someone to death and will reduce the risk of accidental injuries.

He said: “It can never be a totally safe knife, but the idea is you can’t inflict a fatal wound. Nobody could just grab one out of the kitchen drawer and kill someone.

The knife is expected to sell for around £40-50 and has been tested with “very favourable” results by the Home Office’s Design and Technology Alliance – set up to research products that can deter crime.

Now it’s just going to do more damage when one does decided to stab someone else.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…

Keith Hopkins attacked Winifred Phipps, grabbing her bag and dragging her across the ground until she had to let go.

Since then she has worred about leaving her home and has to walk a different way into town because she cannot bear to be reminded of that day.

But Judge Anthony Cleary said he had to “exercise a degree of mercy” when sentencing Hopkins because he had suffered a number of traumatic events while in prison on remand.

Instead of sending him to prison, he handed him a community sentence for two years.

Mrs Phipps, of Leamington, Warks., branded the sentence a joke and slammed the judge for being too soft.

She said: “I’m very disappointed with what’s happened here.

“There are people that have had a lot harder lives than him and not done the terrible things he has.

“I was very surprised to hear he’d got away with not getting a jail sentence.

“My nerves are completely shot to pieces after what’s happened.

“I couldn’t go anywhere by myself and often have to go to the doctors for my aches and pains.

“Because it happened near there I still can’t go there alone.

“My husband Frank always comes with me and we even have to take a different route to town because I can’t bear to be reminded of that day.”

Warwick Crown Court heard Hopkins, 27, had suffered psychological problems brought on by a number of factors including an attack by others while on remand.

He also suffered childhood abuse and was haunted by the death of a friend he stabbed during the drunken and drug-fuelled argument he was convicted of manslaughter for in 2003.

Judge Cleary said: “While on remand in prison something terrified you.

“No-one would want anyone to be subjected to such terror as was clear to me in that earlier occasion.

“I do not consider you to be wicked or evil.

“It is appropriate to exercise a degree of mercy in your case.”

In a resititution based system this guy likely wouldn’t be held in prison. He would have paid off his debts to the family and friends of his victim and let go. Without further information it sounds as if it was likely prison that caused him to become a petty criminal. Prison and jail aren’t designed to reabilitate or even provide an enviroment for the criminal (or so called criminal) to pay off the debts for their crime. It’s a melting pot of some of the worst in society and they keep adding in more people, both true criminals and not, and acting as if things will get better for them. That they won’t be worse off, that we all won’t be worse off, when they get out.

Create a loser pays, restitution based system and get rid of the war on drugs and much of our criminal problems and court abuse would disappear.

http://arstechnica.com/…

Having just passed its super-controversial Création et Internet “graduated response” law, you might think the French government would take at least a brief break from riling up the “internautes.” Instead, the government is prepping a new crime bill that will, among other things, mandate Internet censorship at the ISP level, legalize government spyware, and create a massive meta-database of citizen information called “Pericles.”

French newspaper Le Monde has the details on the new law, dubbed “Loppsi 2.” Together with the recent Dadvsi law (which banned DRM circumvention) and Création et Internet (which disconnects repeat online copyright infringers), Loppsi 2 will “fix” France’s various cybersecurity issues.

Think of the children

Loppsi 2 allows the state to install software that can “observe, collect, record, save, and transmit” keystrokes from computers on which it is installed. In essence, it allows for government-installed Trojans for a period of four months; a judge can extend this period for four months more.

In the US, the FBI has used similar techniques for several years, installing a program called CIPAV on suspects’ computers to record and transmit “pen register” data back to investigators.

Under Loppsi 2, French ISPs would also need to participate in a Web censorship regime that initially appears targeted at child pornography. Critics like Jean-Michel Planche, who advises the French government on Internet issues, are already calling the new bill the end of an open and neutral Internet.

Finally, the bill allows for a database called “Pericles” that can pull together information from various existing French databases to create a “super-dossier” on people. According to Le Monde, such a database could contain all sorts of crucial, personal information, and sounds certain to set off the same debates that have taken place in the US whenever similar projects have been floated.

Oh—and did we mention that Loppsi 2 funds all sorts of other crime-fighting techniques, including automated camera systems that record the license plates of cars passing by on the motorway?

Taken together, the Loppsi 2 draft shows just how serious the Sarkozy government is about getting some control over this crazy Internet thing that all the kids are using now. Actually, this is a situation playing out in most developed countries at the moment, and it’s not yet clear whether a global consensus will emerge on how to deal with law enforcement challenges on the ‘Net.

Numerous countries in Europe already run Internet child porn blacklists; massive government databases exist or are being developed just about everywhere; graduated response laws are slowly moving into the mainstream. France just seems more interested than most in adopting all of these ideas in the shortest possible timeframe.

Aw yeah, it’s gorilla gardening time:

CHT Check Your Premises

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary has ditched plans for a giant Government database tracking all emails, phone calls and internet activity.

Ms Smith said a central store of electronic data was an “extreme” solution and would have undermined privacy.

Records of every electronic communication made by Britons will instead be held by private companies at a cost of around £2 billion.

Internet firms will be asked to collect and store vast amounts of data, including from social networking sites such as Facebook.

Launching the proposals on Monday, Ms Smith acknowledged concerns over privacy.

She said: “My key priority is to protect the citizens of the UK, and communications data is an essential tool for law enforcement agencies to track murderers and paedophiles, save lives and tackle crime.

“Advances in communications mean that there are ever more sophisticated ways to communicate and we need to ensure that we keep up with the technology being used by those who would seek to do us harm.

“It is essential that the police and other crime-fighting agencies have the tools they need to do their job. However, to be clear, there are absolutely no plans for a single central store.

“We recognise that there is a delicate balance between privacy and security, but to do nothing is not an option as we would be failing in our duty to protect the public.”

She added: “There were two elements that I think people could be concerned about. One was the state holding the data. The other was the data all being concentrated in one place.

“It is to overcome those concerns about privacy that the proposal involves Communication Service Providers retaining the data that comes from them and passes across their networks.”

Under the plans, every internet user will be given a unique ID code and all their data stored in one place.

Government agencies such as the police and security services will access the data to investigate suspected criminals and terrorists.

But it could also be accessed by local authorities and other Government agencies.

Ministers stress the content of messages and online profiles will not be stored.

More fascism. Awesome. That way when the government fucks up they can blame it on the “free market.” As Franklin said… if you are willing to give up your freedom for a little safety you won’t have or be deserving of either.

They should take after the United States’ NSA. They just tap right in and sniff everything. Constitution and public opinion be damned.