Why are our TV media terrorising us with the Ken Bigley video ?

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Why are our TV news media organisations, e.g. the BBC or Sky actually re-broadcasting. to many millions more people than would otherwise be possible, the video of Ken Bigley, the British hostage held in Iraq, pleading for his life ?

How does giving the terrorist kidnappers the "oxygen of publicity" help either the unfortunate Mr. Bigley, or any of the rest of us ?

The video clip taken from some allegedly extremist website, adds no extra material facts to the story e.g. clues about where or when the video was taken, or even if Mr. Bigley is still alive.

There is no need to let the terrorists set the news agenda when reporting this story.

90 Comments

I have no sympathy with Mr Ken Bigley,he new what the dangers were before setting off and thats life.He said before hand he was prepared to die and now hes not so brave.What ever nhappens to him i will not change my opinion and couldnt care a less wether he gets beheaded,infact i hope he does.

I really feel for the family of Ken Bigley. I cant possibly imagine how much they are going through. Even though it was their own decision to go out to Iraq, nobody derserves this. I would like to hope that he will come out of this alive, but I feel that he wont. My thoughts go out to him and his family

Whilst i am extremely sympathetic about the situation Mr. Bigley and his family are in, i can't help but feel that putting his family on national television is a detriment to his cause and a false hope for his family and friends. The people holding Mr. Bigley are, as we all know not in the business of being merciful to their hostages. As my mother said this morning, "maybe these people will see the please and having mothers themselves, may show some mercy to Mr. Bigley", as i said to her, the members of this group would quite happily and proudly die for Islam and consider it an honour to at that. Of course these people have parents, but they also have a responsiblity to Islam. I do hope that Mr. Bigley is released, untouched but in my heart i feel his captors have already made their decision.

first of all i want to say that the dickhead who said mr bigley should be beheaded you ar sick in ur fucking mentally ill head. suckurself. i hope u will be beheaded in fact if i find u i will do it my fucking self

first of all i want to say that the dickhead who said mr bigley should be beheaded you ar sick in ur fucking mentally ill head. suckurself. i hope u will be beheaded in fact if i find u i will do it my fucking self

first of all i want to say that the dickhead who said mr bigley should be beheaded you ar sick in ur fucking mentally ill head. suckurself. i hope u will be beheaded in fact if i find u i will do it my fucking self

dan you plank you haven't got a clue fairplay lisa

Anyone with any ounce of decency will feel nothing but horror and revulsion at the cruel acts of Ken Bigleys captors. I have complete sympathy for Ken Bigley, and cannot imagine the agony his family must be going through.
What a sad individual "Dan" must be to say he hopes he gets beheaded.What a loser and judging by his post an idiot of limited intelligence who would be better off learning to spell and write correctly. Get a life Dan.

Dan, you are one cruel heartless person. That man went to help the downtroddens, he never went with intentions of getting kidnapped by a bunch of so called "HOLY IDIOT", they are not Holly either they are murderers and terrorists and your making comment likes that. Lisa is right you are one sick swine, and WHAT IF THAT WAS YOUR FATHER, OR CHILD. Well not to worry, you'll be meeting those who do behead him, IN HELL WHERE YOU BELONG.

God bless Ken Bigley. Please give him strength at this unimaginably terrible time and of course to his family too. I pray that god is with him and whatever happens. I, like so many hope that these animals (what an insult to animals) let him return to his loving family. They are surely destined for hell along with half wits like Dan.

I too sympathise with the family, and wonder if the USA is such a big military giant, howcome they are never able to trace the whereabout of these killers.Surely they have technology to root them out.

To those condeming people to hell on this page, ensure that you yourself dont end up there.

After the alleged beheading of 2 itallian girls,(worked on water and schooling projects) and i feel there is little hope for mr bigley.....

i am slowly but surley becoming racist, towards all muslims.....and btw all killings of workers trying to make iraq stable, are just creating more enemies for themselvs throught the world......

Good luck iraq, you'll fucking need it !!!

YES! I am disgusted at the message from the Dan because I am sure you would not be brave either if you knew you were going to die. Shame on you for saying you hope he does get beheaded. Are you one of these middle east people? I could say the same for members of your family, maybe they may get run over by a bus (you never know mocking is catching...be careful). If it was your daughter, son, brother, sister, mum, dad, who was kidnapped you would do anything to get them back and if it means making pleas on TV then you would do it. You are a very stupid person and you should learn to think before you type. I am from Northern Ireland where I have seen my fair share of kidnap & murder, and if I knew were you were you were from I would be happy to take you to Belfast to get your knees done ya peasant.

Hey Dan you heartless SOB, What if it was one of your Family members, You would probabally be on your hands and knees crying like a Baby, in fact it is you who deserves to be in Mr. Begley's Place. In fact I hope your dick and head get cut off some day

Hey Dan you heartless SOB, What if it was one of your Family members, You would probabally be on your hands and knees crying like a Baby, in fact it is you who deserves to be in Mr. Begley's Place. In fact I hope your dick and head get cut off some day

YES! I am disgusted at the message from the Dan because I am sure you would not be brave either if you knew you were going to die. Shame on you for saying you hope he does get beheaded. Are you one of these middle east people? I could say the same for members of your family, maybe they may get run over by a bus (you never know mocking is catching...be careful). If it was your daughter, son, brother, sister, mum, dad, who was kidnapped you would do anything to get them back and if it means making pleas on TV then you would do it. You are a very stupid person and you should learn to think before you type. I am from Northern Ireland where I have seen my fair share of kidnap & murder, and if I knew where you liveed I would be happy to take you to Belfast to get your knees done ya peasant.
You should travel to the middle east, I believe you belong there with all the scum of the earth.

Atad off topic,
Some time back there waa a video clip showing an american apache helicopter mowing down innocent people at night.There was a big outcry over it, but there is another clip showing more of what happened earlier, which the 1st clip did not.

Makes one think how people can be so misled by the media etc.We only get a shimmer of the truth at a time.

The terrorists are likely to try to drag out the agony of Ken Bigley's family, by not revealing if he is dead or alive, until at least the Labour Party conference so as to try to embarass Tony Blair.

If the Iraqui, the USA or the UK governments had a clue about where Ken Bigley's kidnappers actually are hiding, they would undoubtedly try to rescue him. However, failing any hard, accurate intelligence which is not simply a trap for them, they are all powerless to help.

Unauthenticated stuff posted on a website somewhere is not even proof of the alleged demands of the kidnappers, so there is literally nothing that Tony Blair can do to appease the kidnappers, in the hope that they will release Ken Bigley, no matter how much supposed "pressure" the hysterical media coverage puts on the Prime Minister.

"Dan"'s posting was nasty, but he is unlikely to ever reply to any of the comments condemning it.

Why let the terrorists manipulate you into hatred for any wider group other than for the evil terrorists themselves ? That is exactly what they want.

Dan ya fcukin sic sadistic twat if i knew who u were id let the terrorists cum and take u away all of kens family keep ya head up peace out 2 ken b brave

I am sorry to have allowed myself to view some internet pictures of the fate of one of the Americans held with Ken Bigley. This death dealt out by "men" men? F***ing cowards! it takes these 5 great warriors of Islam to hold down a tied man and behead him. Dan......these words you speak are ignorant and will return to you, fate will reward you. You should view the pictures of this death and try to imagine someone close to you being slaughtered in that way. I hope you regret your existance. And for those held good luck and prayers.

I am sorry to have allowed myself to view some internet pictures of the fate of one of the Americans held with Ken Bigley. This death dealt out by "men" men? F***ing cowards! it takes these 5 great warriors of Islam to hold down a tied man and behead him. Dan......these words you speak are ignorant and will return to you, fate will reward you. You should view the pictures of this death and try to imagine someone close to you being slaughtered in that way. I hope you regret your existance. And for those held good luck and prayers.

I too deeply regret watching these things posted on the net.
We live in such a dangerous world, and I hate the thought that human beings could do such evil things to one another. I think we all need to pray that all hostages will be released and that the deaths of muslims and westerners will stop. My prayers tonight will go to Mr Bigley and i will also ask that God will not allow the power hungry, greedy, despot leaders of this world to bring us into war ever again.

Dan your a sad fuck. Your comments are worse than the terrorists. You shit head bum sniffing asshole.

You must have been on holiday when god was giving out brains.

never mind Dan ... what about Ken

I feel so sorry for mr bigley and his family but i feel that the terrorists will behead mr bigley to further turn this country against tony blair as it will appear to many that he has done nothing to help him. But if they do or already have carried out their threat then maybe it will give this country the kick up the arse it needs for people to turn nasty against these fanatical morons who burn our flag in our capital and spurt their anti western crap on our streets. Lets kick arse England.

I couldn,t believe my eyes when I read what Dan wrote (or tried to write), is he for real? I think that whats occuring all over the world at the moment (Iraq, Sudan, North Korea, Palestine, Afghanistan etc) is terrifying, I just can't see a future for this world and I'm not a pessimist just a realist. What have we done to this planet? There seems to me to be plenty of pricks like Dan happy to sit back and watch all this violence and disaster unfold as if its a movie. THIS IS REALITY AND ITS SHIT AND ITS NOT GOING TO GO AWAY FOR KEN BIGLEY OR THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER PEOPLE SUFFERING ALL OVER THE WORLD.

i regretably have to say i too saw the internet video of the beheading of the two americans,how can people be so cruel in this world where is the god if he lets people die like this,i really feel for his family and cant imagine what his family are goin through.And for that dan bloke leaving that evil message id like to see him in mr bigleys shoes and see how he would react i think that blokes sick in the head if i was your mother or father i would be disgusted in you.That man went over to help them people so dan i think you should really take a good look in the mirror cos people like you go to hell!!!!

Its truly awful the situation ken bigley has found himself in, i dont think words can describe how he must be feeling. My thoughts go out to him & any other INNOCENT person held hostage against their will whatever their colour or religeon. I hope that the recent publicity about Ken helps secure his release. I too regretfully have viewed footage of beheadings by the group holding him and its their ruthlessness that makes me feel all the media attention is just a game and he will suffer the same fate. However i do keep an open mind and hope this isnt the case. Dan your comments are sickening, i'm sure if you or one of your close family members were in the same situation you wouldn't be quite so quick to make the comments you have, at least from some of the posts on here there are compassionate people left in the world! Thankfully!!!!

hi to everyone that mention about " f**kface dan", what a complete ass, my heart goes out to the bigley family, BUT dan does hav a point!! too!!
mr B, Should have put hi work into OUR OWN COUNTRY!!
WE are first right in, the need's of help before any second'ry country!!!
you may, or may not agree...
but, who is fed up of helping others befor helping our-self's??
we can not afford to help our own, let alone help other accross the other side of the world...
SORRY to be hash, but life IS!!!

Why not contiue to kill 10 of them, to each one of us.?

They are obviously Brain dead/Brain washed into thinking that by
kidnaping people who go out there to help re-build there country, in
some way will make the world want to follow in there foot steps.

so ya. lets all just go out and act like muppets. lets go out and pick
some islam chaps of the streets and lop there heads of. ow and dont
forget to post the video on the web so that the media can blow it all
out of proportion.

Regards
WhoGivesAShit

Why not contiue to kill 10 of them, to each one of us.?

They are obviously Brain dead/Brain washed into thinking that by
kidnaping people who go out there to help re-build there country, in
some way will make the world want to follow in there foot steps.

so ya. lets all just go out and act like muppets. lets go out and pick
some islam chaps of the streets and lop there heads of. ow and dont
forget to post the video on the web so that the media can blow it all
out of proportion.

Regards
WhoGivesAShit

Why not contiue to kill 10 of them, to each one of us.?

They are obviously Brain dead/Brain washed into thinking that by
kidnaping people who go out there to help re-build there country, in
some way will make the world want to follow in there foot steps.

so ya. lets all just go out and act like muppets. lets go out and pick
some islam chaps of the streets and lop there heads of. ow and dont
forget to post the video on the web so that the media can blow it all
out of proportion.

Regards
WhoGivesAShit

"WhoGivesAShit" - irony does not usually work in online text based discussions.

There are people with a severe sense of humour failure who will take your words literally. They will be looking to see if they can invoke the "Religiously aggravated offences" provisions of the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 against you,(penalty up to 7 years in jail), simply because it is politically expedient for them to do so:

http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/10024--f.htm#39

I think some of the comments made here are truly heartless, Ken Bigley doesnt deserve to die at all, he was there helping the iraqis and has found himself in an impossible situation, try to imagine how he feels right now, not knowing if he is going to see his family again. I myself have also seen a video of a hostage being beheaded and when i saw it i wished i hadnt, it disturbed me for quite a while, these people arent merciful they are evil murderers whom i hope will suffer the same fate, they are the ones who deserve to die, NOT poor Ken Bigley, my heart goes out to him and his family, i pray every day for his safe release.

I live in liverpool and work in a city centre venue. i have heard a lot of talk if ken is killed then muslims here will get the same treatment.Just ignore that idiot who hopes he is killed,he only wants attention

Are the people in Liverpool really so easily manipulated by terrorists and the media ?

Dan ! you are such an utter twat, il bet you are an ugly cunt with buck teeth and glases and only can attract attention by posting ur sad comments. come to the shankill road, i know a few of the shankill butchers that would love to meet you. As for Ken the Shankill People are praying for his safe return. F.G.A.U

I kind of agree with Dan. I think it is unfair that Ken Bigley went to Iraq knowing the risks, and making his family suffer as they are now. He even got taught what to do if he got kidnapped by his brother who was in lebanon. I think the suffering his family is going through is horrific. However, he does not deserve to die. No-one deserves to be kidnapped and then die for a unobtainable cause. My heart goes out to Ken and his family and I know the majority of this world will be praying for his safe return.

firstly i think what dan said was a bit harsh,i dont think anyone deserves to have there head cut off.and what a bunch of cowards that are doing it , they have to blindfold and tie up there victims and it takes 5 or them do the sick acts. and why wear hoods ,are they that fucking ugly. hopefully mr bigley is released back to his family where he belongs.

DAN POOR DAN THINKS HE IS SO BRAVE TYPING THOSE WORDS AS HE HIDES BEHIND HIS COMPUTER.I HAVE NOW CAST A SPELL ON U DAN SORRY BUT U ASKED FOR IT

MY THOUGHTS GO OUT TO KEN AND HIS FAMILY GOD BE WITH U

DAN POOR DAN THINKS HE IS SO BRAVE TYPING THOSE WORDS AS HE HIDES BEHIND HIS COMPUTER.I HAVE NOW CAST A SPELL ON U DAN SORRY BUT U ASKED FOR IT

MY THOUGHTS GO OUT TO KEN AND HIS FAMILY GOD BE WITH U

DAN POOR DAN THINKS HE IS SO BRAVE TYPING THOSE WORDS AS HE HIDES BEHIND HIS COMPUTER.I HAVE NOW CAST A SPELL ON U DAN SORRY BUT U ASKED FOR IT

MY THOUGHTS GO OUT TO KEN AND HIS FAMILY GOD BE WITH U

why is that suddenly, the government cannot negoiate with terrorists, when they have done so in the past.DOUBLE STANDARD TONY CRONEY.

I think Dan's comment was tactless but I also think he has a point. The media has got hysterical over this one man who knew the risks he was taking and whose bravery is to be admired.

However if he did indeed go to "help" the Iraqis in some genuinely well-meaning way then I feel that he is a victim of his own naivety. The Iraqi people do not, on the whole, want our "help" and we should be getting the hell out of there and letting them take care of themselves - something that they are very capable and most keen to do. But of course then they would control all that lovely oil, not us.

Millions of people die every day at the hands of others - many of them far more innocent and just as well meaning as Ken Bigley. Ordinary people shot, stabbed, beaten in our cities for a few pounds/dollars/euros. Ordinary men/women/children on our roads the victims of misfortune, and yes, though we don't like to hear about it, ordinary Iragis and Afghans at the hands of our armed forces, and British-built weapons.

ALL of these people are far more innocent and far more deserving of media coverage than Ken Bigley and his small-time criminal captors. Ken is a genuinely brave man who took the risk of his assignment along with the very generous money that was no doubt on offer. This was his choice.

I Agree with WTWU, very good point!!

As for u Dan well I believe you got your way!!! :-( and I hope you sleep well!! God bless
Mr Bigley and his family :-( :-(

OK , Ken Bigley went to work in Iraq - so what, its risky, he knew that but the moneys good (why else do WE work) and he was doing some good for the people, regardless of this no one deserves to have thier head cut off whilst they are alive, the howls of realisation of Eugene Armstrong as those masked fucking cowards hacked at his throat will haunt me forever, until this day i have had no racism attitudes, it isn't even racism i feel it is 'religion-ism' if anything. Those fucks want a holy war , so lets give em one, fuck the politics of it and the other adgendas that the governments seem to be working to. I dont think that the govnt can negotiate his release nor should they, but it is the reponse of our great nation (BRITAIN) should Ken be killed that will echo in history - we need to take the fight to our streets and wipe the fanatisism of islam from the face of the planet just as the crusaders tried nearly 1000 years ago. Tony Blair cant protect us neither can God, its down to us now. As for Dan, ill hack this site till i get your ISP address from your posting and track you down you sick fuck and then we'll see how tough you are and how well you stand up to the sting of cold steel against your jugular

"Deliverer" - "As for Dan, ill hack this site till i get your ISP address from your posting and track you down"

No you won't.

You really should have read some of the postings and followed the links on this web log before you started making such threats against it.

I have both "Dan" and "Deliverer"'s IP and *other details* logged. Interestingly I know people on the systems administration and security team of *your* ISP, and also the appropriate people to contact at the National High Tech Crime Unit.

By the way, if anybody in the UK does get hurt or intimidated if Ken Bigley is harmed, then those people making threats of physical violence will automatically come under the suspicion of the Big Brother authorities who keep monitoring this website.

wtwu - ' "Deliverer" - "As for Dan, ill hack this site till i get your ISP address from your posting and track you down"

No you won't. '

as an 'interested party' on this great site you have me at a disadvantage and i admit that my words are more from frustration and anger at the current political climate and the comments from 'dan' - as someone who fought in the 1st gulf conflict i found Dans words both offensive and deserving of a rebuke, one far more powerful than on here as 'irony does not usually work in online text based discussions', - rather than a real intent, but please do not doubt my will.

that said i feel my other comments valid and more worthy of debate than those relating to 'dan' -

regards
D

Is it easier to hate than love? How difficult is it to love? How easy is it to hate? I find it hard to love. I think it is really easy to hate. I just read the above and most of it is full of hate whether the intention in the first place was good or bad. I think I am going to try and love even if it is hard. Care to join me, or is it too difficult?

The fact that this topic has provoked so many violently expressed and incoherent comments rather illustrates the problem. By pressing the right emotive buttons, despite (or perhaps even as a consequence of) having no practicable demands, the terrorists are succeeding in stoking the conflict. In both East and West, there's a dangerous tendency to identify strength of feeling with truth and moral worth. Building up such ersatz passionate intensity is implicit in their strategy.

Were I unfortunate enough to be kidnapped, I'd hope my relatives would maintain a public silence, and not assist my captors by offering the emotional pornography of media appeals for the worldwide audience to feast upon. It gives the opportunity for second-hand Sadism diguised as virtuous indignation.

Ken bigley doesnt diserver to be be-headed the people that do are the fucking ass hole's like Dan.I agree with Lisa up there he's a fucking wanker.But as for Ken bigley i hope he's captor's release him and realise he was only trying to re-build Iraq and help them out.I think he's captor's realise this.I also get a feeling mr Bigley is already dead im afraid.

I think Dan should be called Desperate dan, as its attention that he is seeking. As for Ken Bigley and his family, My thoughts and prayers are with them.No One deserves to have their head severed from their torso, Its totally appaling, but some how i dont think that these militants will follow suit as Ken is the last hostage. Killing him will turn their own against them never mind the world. These Babarick animals know of the media coverage and they are reveling in ther own sick ways. Britan has greater Powers and they probably have intelligence to know exactly where Ken Bigley is. As for non negotiting with terrorist's. THAT IS A JOKE, WHERE WAS MR BLAIR THIS WEEK ? HE WAS HAVING TALKS WITH SINN FEIN, WHO MIGHT I ADD IS MADE UP OF MOSTLY CONVICTED MURDERERS AND BOMBERS, RE: IRA. SO MAYBE HE COULD ENLIGHTEN US AND EXPLAIN IS ONE RULE FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ANOTHER. IS THERE NOT THOUSANDS OF RELEASED PRISONERS WALKING THE STREETS OF BELFAST UNDER THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT ??? I SAY LET THE TWO SLAPPERS OUT OF JAIL. GET KEN HOME SAFELY AND THEN LET MI5 MI6 GO AND WIPE THE TWO OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. AFTER ALL THEY ARE EXPERTS IN THAT FIELD.

I think Dan should be called Desperate dan, as its attention that he is seeking. As for Ken Bigley and his family, My thoughts and prayers are with them.No One deserves to have their head severed from their torso, Its totally appaling, but some how i dont think that these militants will follow suit as Ken is the last hostage. Killing him will turn their own against them never mind the world. These Babarick animals know of the media coverage and they are reveling in ther own sick ways. Britan has greater Powers and they probably have intelligence to know exactly where Ken Bigley is. As for non negotiting with terrorist's. THAT IS A JOKE, WHERE WAS MR BLAIR THIS WEEK ? HE WAS HAVING TALKS WITH SINN FEIN, WHO MIGHT I ADD IS MADE UP OF MOSTLY CONVICTED MURDERERS AND BOMBERS, RE: IRA. SO MAYBE HE COULD ENLIGHTEN US AND EXPLAIN IS ONE RULE FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ANOTHER. IS THERE NOT THOUSANDS OF RELEASED PRISONERS WALKING THE STREETS OF BELFAST UNDER THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT ??? I SAY LET THE TWO SLAPPERS OUT OF JAIL. GET KEN HOME SAFELY AND THEN LET MI5 MI6 GO AND WIPE THE TWO OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. AFTER ALL THEY ARE EXPERTS IN THAT FIELD.

i agree with KW.
blair can negioate with sinn fein and also those in iraq, but not with this specific case.
its a disgrace to say the least and i suspect that wherever we go in this world, we cannot reply on the government to help us.
should we then hand in our passports or even renounce our citizenship.

I am so angry at how politicians can have the ordacity to play with human life.if I had my way I WOULD !"?$%^&* ETC ETC

KW and John ask what the difference is between negotiating with Sinn Fein and negotiating with Ken Bigley's captors. The latter are not interested in negotiating: they want a specific demand met in return for sparing Mr Bigley's life. That's just blackmail. If anyone thinks we should give way to that, the problem is that its not just that it would cause more terrorists to take more hostages: any terrorist might also demand that the 'price' of sparing one hostage life was outrageously disproportionate eg remove all USA troops from Iraq or else. It would just be a slippery slope. However, if any terrorist had political demands that made any kind of objective sense, it would be sensible for everyone to consider how they might be met. Whatever the sins of the IRA (matched by those of the so-called Loyalists) the political unrest breeds on unresolved legitimate grievances. At some point, these problems need to be addressed. Once the causes of grievance have been resolved as far as reasonably possible, the terrorist has no need for weapons.

If I may play Devil's advocate, I wonder what would have happened if the US had responded to the terrorist death-threat to the three hostages by saying that, if they were harmed in any way, the same fate would befall the high profile women prisoners whose release the terrorists were demanding? The death of the first US hostage would then have left the terrorists having completely defeated their own purpose. Of course, it would be extremely rough justice for the women prisoners, but they might be given the chance to appeal to the terrorists to release their captors first and to stand trial for their alleged offences through due process. If they were unwilling to do so, that might suggest that they were complicit in the terrorism and any murder that followed: we might then have less qualms about them suffering the same fate. Just a thought!

mikeb has valid comments, but I cannot see the logic in, that giving in to these people would open doors to others doing it.
It can and will be used in the future.The world has already seen what can be achieved through kidnapping and murder.
the ira were just as guilty of atrosities as were the military.In my opinion, the ira is no better than these iraqi's/../

DEATH TO DAN!!!

Firstly,

As a Muslim, I?m a disgusted to see so many people take up the "eye for an eye" way of dealing with things. You guys must all be red neck blind ignorant idiots. I have sympathy for Ken, and I pray that he gets released, but you have to question the reason that you are being led to this information, and why all this is so readily available. This is justification for a war that never should have taken place. If the media shows instability and horror in Iraq, it re-enforces the reasoning for the West to be involved in "reshaping" Iraq. Muslim blood is the cheapest in the world, with millions dying without one whisper in the media, but apparently one westerner can take the spotlight. That?s what the media is trying to do, and after reading all your postings, they are doing it very successfully. Read up on other things, open your freaking eyes, it?s not all as simple as you think it is. If you think that people can be brought to beheading someone so easily, think again. Terrorism is a result of personal loss, and frustration. If you think 5 people on one person being beheaded is "unfair" then what about the thousands of soldiers against innocent civilians.

I?m not justifying beheading,
I?m asking you to open your eyes, and especially your views.

The whole purpose of this war was to clear the way for people like Ken Bigley to go in there and enrich themselves and the companies which employ them. Ken Bigley represents all that this war is being fought for, and as such he is a legitimate target. He is a frontline soldier for Western capital.
All our hearts ache for Mr Bigley's family. But is their pain any different from that of any soldier's family? No different from the pain of tens of thousands of parents in Iraq who have lost their children to sanctions and war, so that Mr Bigley could go and enrich himself over their graves.
Charles Kennedy said last week that we cannot give in to terrorists. If Mr Kennedy's opposition to the war is sincere, if he truly understands the illegality of the occupation, then surely he should support the release of all prisoners in British and US captivity in Iraq. If the demand for the release of female captives is not met by the criminal occupying power, then the hostage should be executed.
Let's remember who Mr Bigley was working for: Gulf Services Co, helping to build and service a US base in the town of Taji. Innocent? Give us a break.

Perhaps we should in future leave people be and not interfere with their affairs.Look at what has happened to the aborigines.They were "civilized" by society and have now become a nation of alcoholics etc etc.

The same situation arises all over the world. We in the western world always want to impose our standards on people who may be several hundred years behind.

All wwhat we do is to hasten the inevitable.They have come and gone and yes, many have died.But dont we all die sooner or later.We give them fresh water to drink, but fail to remember that they have survived on water, we would not even give to out pets.

Likewise with food.They are not able to digest our modern food and it inevtibaly causes problems in their bodies, when they are used to eating what nature provides.

What I am trying to say is that we must leave them be.They have survived over the centuries and have died over the centuries, be it from famine,sickness or whatever.

god bless mr bigley,god bless the poor misgiven soul who cant spell called dan, you know christianity is a true sense of well being and forgivness,and i forgive dan, although, JESUS DOESNT YOU SICK FUCKWITT, GO NAIL YOUR HEAD TO A PUBLIC TOILET.

I think people are getting there hopes up with Ken Bigley because didn't these sick animals already say 'Meet our demands or we slaughter' and now they don't want to kill him, they are just playing a sick game and the media is playing into it. My heart goes out to the Bigleys, but I just wanted to know what the **** coalition forces are doing to located Ken, Blair says they are doing all they can, but they could at least start a search house to house near the area he was taken, put out flyers for the reward they are offering (I think anyone in Iraq would give up Zarqawi for $25 million)

Lets look at some of the facts.
Bigley abondons life in the UK for a life in the far east with his VERY young wife. He neither pays any income tax here nor does anything to support the UK. When his greed gets the better of him and he trots off to Iraq to ear big bucks things go tits up for him, he comes bleating to the UK for help.

He abandoned the UK and the UK should abandon him, simple as that!

Would Tony Blair please just do the right thing, rather than trying to do whatever might help him retain the most votes. Mr Blair appears to have one eye on the ballot box whenever he acts or speaks these days. Surely the correct course of action is inaction or perhaps total refusal to even acknowledge the existence of Mr Bigley?s kidnappers?

Clearly the kidnappers are drawing their power from the media coverage but one has to wonder if they wish to use that power to attain the slightly more ?honourable? goal of freedom for the two Iraqi Women or if they are simply criminals seeking a monetary result. If these two women have committed horrendous crimes then maybe the US should have executed them when the two American hostages were killed, thereby removing any possibility of negotiation.

Some sympathy must be extended to Mr Bigley?s family but whilst we should perhaps all prey for his safe return, we should also prey that no government takes their lead from the Italians providing funding to what is at best organised crime and is far more likely to be future acts of terrorism. It would be a miracle if the Italian?s $1m does not ?purchase? the death of hundreds of innocents.

The demand of the terrorists is the release of women captives in Iraq, full stop. The occupier seeks to cover this up, by claiming that they only hold the two female weapons scientists of Saddam's regime, who nobody in the West wants to see released.
After the scandal surrounding the pictures of torture earlier this year, the politicians would rather let Ken Bigley die than admit that they are still holding captive many innocent women.
Let's have less sympathy for Ken Bigley, and more attacks on the lying hypocrisy of our politicians.

Kenneth Bigley went to Iraq chasing the almighty Dollar rising out of the Iraqi rubble. Dan may have expressed his lack of sympathy rather bluntly, but I don't think I feel a lot of sympathy for Ken Bigley either. I feel a lot more sympathy for the thousands of innocent Iraqi victims of British and US foreign policy. Depleted uranium (which has poisoned the air of Iraq for thousands of years to come, check it out on the www, do a search on google), sanctions, war ..... these have cost the deaths of countless more children than Saddam ever killed. Saddam was evil, but let's also remember he was a puppet of the US government till he invaded Kuwait. When he massacred the Kurds in the 1980s, he did so with the full backing of the US. Now the US just wants a pro-American dictator again, somebody who can hold Iraq together so western corporations can keep their greedy fingers on the oil. For this, so many had to die.

I wrote a few days ago about this and ive just found out my brother might be going to iraq hes only 19 and my whole family are really scared about him going its just the thought about all thoughs young soldiers who have died for there country and what there familys have gone through,i really sympathys with ken bigleys family.

I am totally saddened by the lack of compassion expressed in so many messages on this site. I feel deeply for the loss of innocent lives, no matter which religion or nationality. Whoever is right or wrong, hatred only breeds hatred. We appear to be less civilised than the sad and evil persecutors who burned people alive centuries ago. Having one's throat sliced when alive, not to mention the days and long hours chained and shackled knowing what is about to happen to you, has to be the most cruel and painful death imaginable. How can people be so devoid of feeling for a fellow human being? My heart goes out to Ken, and his family ..... especially his dear sick and frail mother. I pray that Ken is allowed to live. Soldiers who go to war are "despatched" by their Government. They are doing a job. They are at risk of losing their own lives. Atrocities obviously occur in warfare, but I have not heard of soldiers glorifying in a brutal 5 over 1 slow beheading of an innocent, even if some individual soldiers have behaved shamefully. The hostages murderers are an entirely different breed. They are full of hatred, unable to reason, unable to feel anything .... because they have been totally brainwashed since birth.

Some of Dan's comments were out of order but he did have a point...

Ken Bigley knew the dangers before he went there, but all that money was too good to resist, now he's changed his mind and begging Tony Blair to help him. I hope his Thai bride is happy, he probably needed the money to keep hold of her. I hope that the reports of him being killed aren't true but if they are, people can't blame the Prime Minister, he never told him to go there. You can't ignore warnings then beg for help when it goes wrong

Well, well well, this really has brought out the bigots. I am an agnostic, but have spent time in Tunisia with Muslims and got to understand a little of the Muslim faith some good some not quite so, I like the bit that translates to "help your fellow brother, feed him and water him when he needs it etc...." No where could I find anything that says :
"Married, family men tha thav eno job, no prospect sin their own country that go to help others and also support their family should be tortured and endure unforgivable suffering for the sake of a lost and sick cause!

The yanks shooting up a muslim wedding party and killing a dad and his 7 sons probably didnt really help Kens cause too much either!

And yes Dan "the lobotomised moron" has probably already crawled back with the rest of his amoebic freinds already.

Good luck ken

I really hope that the UK media do not show any details of the alleged video showing Ken Bigley's murder as reported by Reuters who claim to have viewed it.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6453942&src=rss/topNews§ion=news

What purpose will showing this video serve, except to give the murderers even more "oxygen of publicity" ?

god blees you ken,my heart gos to kens family,dan you are a jackass,not everyone wants to go sometimes they have to as its there job,you really make me sick,lets all the other human beans out here that have a heart pray for kens safe home coming

I plan find out who this fucker Dan is, if anyone would like to contribute in any way please mail me.

I am tracking down this spinless fuckwit and will post his details when I get them

Any techies who can contribute in the world wide search for this peice of scum please feel free to join the cause. (connely48@hotmail.com)

I plan to find out who this fucker Dan is, if anyone would like to contribute in any way please mail me.

I am tracking down this spinless fuckwit and will post his details when I get them

Any techies who can contribute in the world wide search for this piece of scum please feel free to join the cause. (connely48@hotmail.com)

I plan to find out who this fucker Dan is, if anyone would like to contribute in any way please mail me.

I am tracking down this spinless fuckwit and will post his details when I get them

Any techies who can contribute in the world wide search for this piece of scum please feel free to join the cause. (connely48@hotmail.com)

I dont give a fuck about Bigley either, now all you English know how it felt for the Irish for 600yrs when you occupied Ireland and murdered it's people, and starved them to death during the so called Potato Famine....where did all other go/ to feed the bastard English landlords. Now you go and invade Iraq to steal the oil with the Americans..so suffer for it!

"Brud" - did you miss the fact that Ken Bigley's mother was born in Ireland, and that the Irish Government granted him an Irish passport this week ? He was at least as Irish as English.

Yeah and what about the Romans for enslaving most of europe, or Sweden (vikings) or Ghengis Khan for killings hundreds of thousands, yeah thats it, down with Italy, Sweden and Nepal!!

(You idiot)

i really feel for the bigley family,the be heading of this engineer is a disgrace,personally i have no feelings for muslims arabs or the like ,but by the same token it would never enter my head to entertain doing atrocities to either

Why should Ken Bigley's death be treated so differently to the 15,000 odd Iraqis who have been murdered by Mr's Blair and Bush? Grow up everyone and realise that just because someone is white and has a scouse accent doesn't make him different from the other Billion odd people on the planet!!

Facts :- British people were misled into becoming part of a war that nothing to do with us.
9/11 was the most horrific incident ever to be shown live on worldwide media and throughout the world we were all stunned and horrified that any one could callously take so much human life without compassion.
The USA misled the world into joining them in toppling an evil dictator that showed no mercy to the Iraqi people.But as now proven was not a threat to the rest of the world only his own people.
As previous people pointed out Ken was only acting on natural human behavour that he was taking a high risk job out there in the aftermath of the war basically to earn big money perhaps for his retirement and I wonder how many of you would not take a risk like that to better themselves.
Ken did know the risks and was not in any way forced to go out there even though he was helping rebuild a broken nation.Unlike our lads in the forces who are very young and brave and likewise have no hatred for the ordinary Iraqis but still are risking their lives every day they are there. My sympathy for Ken and his family but not for those who got us into this mess in the first place ie. Bush and Blair. Dan likewise think if it were you ... maybe you should think before you say anything next time or just keep your thoughts to yourself.

HOW MUCH DID KEN PAY 4 HIS WIFE..JUST A THOUGHT

HOW MUCH DID KEN PAY 4 HIS WIFE..JUST A THOUGHT

I was totally finished about the ken story,if there was someone with the greatest hope of his release it was me.Some people are just evil.Anyway we still got the judgement day infront of us.R.I.P Ken.
Victor Ngwenya Bolton

Nice to see what opinions the staff of Cairo Wastewater Consortium Ltd have isn't it! Quote "How much did ken pay 4 his wife..just a thought" Sounds like nice people working for that company NOT! Perhaps you should flush yourself down the bog, which is the same place your comments belong! IDIOT! (Just a thought).

Wow, this page reads like a primary school playground transcript!

"I hate you", "i'm gonna find you" "i know where you live" etc etc etc

Doesn't do much for the credibility of the site that's for sure......

This is not the way we, as presumably enquiring thinkers, should be discussing any issue.

So what do we have then -

British man taken hostage while
working in Iraq, a known
Violent place with little security where
Many others have gone missing also.
Media wets itself over this story and
Not so subtly makes out like it's the biggest
Crime against humanity ever to take place.
Which it assuredly isn't.
You can tell what counts for news is slow.
Everyone seems to join in with pant wetting, one way or another.
Allows leaders, who caused all this in the first place, to further support their flagging "i believe it's right" campaigns.

There are some serious questions to be asked about all this, because it's all so fucking obviously weird, which the poor webmaster here has been trying to do while it all kicked off at "dan" (dan, that bad bad man et al)

Someone above stated that "these people" are "brainwashed from birth" to believe that killing is ok etc - that person, all of us even, might want to look a little closer to home in regards to brainwashing, because it seems it doesn't take a lifetime to do the job over here.

Dear Folks,

It is now 12 months on since Ken was butchered
and the World is still a nasty place regarding
the slaughter of Innocents. We are only 3 months on since the London Suicide Bombings and no further ahead.

When oh when will it all stop?, I am a realist I like to think but I as an ex-Police Officer have found that it is easier to be nice than it is to be nasty.

Take care all

John

i am a muslim ma self
i agree with u lot tht killin ken bigley wasnt the rite thing
and dan n everybody else hu sed they dnt care abt it i think thts sick. but everthin mr blair and bush r doin in iraq i dnt like tht either killin innocent people jus 4 oil
r they feelin alrite

i am a muslim ma self
i agree with u lot tht killin ken bigley wasnt the rite thing
and dan n everybody else hu sed they dnt care abt it i think thts sick. but everthin mr blair and bush r doin in iraq i dnt like tht either killin innocent people jus 4 oil
r they feelin alrite

About this blog

This United Kingdom based blog attempts to draw public attention to, and comments on, some of the current trends in ever cheaper and more widespread surveillance technology being deployed to satisfy the rapacious demand by state and corporate bureaucracies and criminals for your private details, and the technological ignorance of our politicians and civil servants who frame our legal systems.

The hope is that you the readers, will help to insist that strong safeguards for the privacy of the individual are implemented, especially in these times of increased alert over possible terrorist or criminal activity. If the systems which should help to protect us can be easily abused to supress our freedoms, then the terrorists will have won.

We know that there are decent, honest, trustworthy individual politicians, civil servants, law enforcement, intelligence agency personnel and broadcast, print and internet journalists etc., who often feel powerless or trapped in the system. They need the assistance of external, detailed, informed, public scrutiny to help them to resist deliberate or unthinking policies, which erode our freedoms and liberties.

Email & PGP Contact

Please feel free to email your views about this blog, or news about the issues it tries to comment on.

blog@spy[dot]org[dot]uk

Our PGP public encryption key is available for those correspondents who wish to send us news or information in confidence, and also for those of you who value your privacy, even if you have got nothing to hide.

We wiil use this verifiable public key (the ID is available on several keyservers, twitter etc.) to establish initial contact with whistleblowers and other confidential sources, but will then try to establish other secure, anonymous communications channels, as appropriate.

Current PGP Key ID: 0x1DBD6A9F0FACAD30 which will expire on 29th August 2021.

pgp-now.gif
You can download a free copy of the PGP encryption software from www.pgpi.org
(available for most of the common computer operating systems, and also in various Open Source versions like GPG)

We look forward to the day when UK Government Legislation, Press Releases and Emails etc. are Digitally Signed so that we can be assured that they are not fakes. Trusting that the digitally signed content makes any sense, is another matter entirely.

Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers and Political Dissidents

Please take the appropriate precautions if you are planning to blow the whistle on shadowy and powerful people in Government or commerce, and their dubious policies. The mainstream media and bloggers also need to take simple precautions to help preserve the anonymity of their sources e.g. see Spy Blog's Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers - or use this easier to remember link: http://ht4w.co.uk

BlogSafer - wiki with multilingual guides to anonymous blogging

Digital Security & Privacy for Human Rights Defenders manual, by Irish NGO Frontline Defenders.

Everyone’s Guide to By-Passing Internet Censorship for Citizens Worldwide (.pdf - 31 pages), by the Citizenlab at the University of Toronto.

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents - March 2008 version - (2.2 Mb - 80 pages .pdf) by Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Guide to Covering the Beijing Olympics by Human Rights Watch.

A Practical Security Handbook for Activists and Campaigns (v 2.6) (.doc - 62 pages), by experienced UK direct action political activists

Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress & Tor - useful step by step guide with software configuration screenshots by Ethan Zuckerman at Global Voices Advocacy. (updated March 10th 2009 with the latest Tor / Vidalia bundle details)

Links

Watching Them, Watching Us

London 2600

Our UK Freedom of Information Act request tracking blog

WikiLeak.org - ethical and technical discussion about the WikiLeaks.org project for anonymous mass leaking of documents etc.

Privacy and Security

Privacy International
United Kingdom Privacy Profile (2011)

Cryptome - censored or leaked government documents etc.

Identity Project report by the London School of Economics
Surveillance & Society the fully peer-reviewed transdisciplinary online surveillance studies journal

Statewatch - monitoring the state and civil liberties in the European Union

The Policy Laundering Project - attempts by Governments to pretend their repressive surveillance systems, have to be introduced to comply with international agreements, which they themselves have pushed for in the first place

International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance

ARCH Action Rights for Children in Education - worried about the planned Children's Bill Database, Connexions Card, fingerprinting of children, CCTV spy cameras in schools etc.

Foundation for Information Policy Research
UK Crypto - UK Cryptography Policy Discussion Group email list

Technical Advisory Board on internet and telecomms interception under RIPA

European Digital Rights

Open Rights Group - a UK version of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a clearinghouse to raise digital rights and civil liberties issues with the media and to influence Governments.

Digital Rights Ireland - legal case against mandatory EU Comms Data Retention etc.

Blindside - "What’s going to go wrong in our e-enabled world? " blog and wiki and Quarterly Report will supposedly be read by the Cabinet Office Central Sponsor for Information Assurance. Whether the rest of the Government bureaucracy and the Politicians actually listen to the CSIA, is another matter.

Biometrics in schools - 'A concerned parent who doesn't want her children to live in "1984" type society.'

Human Rights

Liberty Human Rights campaigners

British Institute of Human Rights
Amnesty International
Justice

Prevent Genocide International

asboconcern - campaign for reform of Anti-Social Behavior Orders

Front Line Defenders - Irish charity - Defenders of Human Rights Defenders

Internet Censorship

OpenNet Initiative - researches and measures the extent of actual state level censorship of the internet. Features a blocked web URL checker and censorship map.

Committee to Protect Bloggers - "devoted to the protection of bloggers worldwide with a focus on highlighting the plight of bloggers threatened and imprisoned by their government."

Reporters without Borders internet section - news of internet related censorship and repression of journalists, bloggers and dissidents etc.

Judicial Links

British and Irish Legal Information Institute - publishes the full text of major case Judgments

Her Majesty's Courts Service - publishes forthcoming High Court etc. cases (but only in the next few days !)

House of Lords - The Law Lords are currently the supreme court in the UK - will be moved to the new Supreme Court in October 2009.

Information Tribunal - deals with appeals under FOIA, DPA both for and against the Information Commissioner

Investigatory Powers Tribunal - deals with complaints about interception and snooping under RIPA - has almost never ruled in favour of a complainant.

Parliamentary Opposition

The incompetent yet authoritarian Labour party have not apologised for their time in Government. They are still not providing any proper Opposition to the current Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition government, on any freedom or civil liberties or privacy or surveillance issues.

UK Government

Home Office - "Not fit for purpose. It is inadequate in terms of its scope, it is inadequate in terms of its information technology, leadership, management systems and processes" - Home Secretary John Reid. 23rd May 2006. Not quite the fount of all evil legislation in the UK, but close.

No. 10 Downing Street Prime Minister's Official Spindoctors

Public Bills before Parliament

United Kingdom Parliament
Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons.

House of Commons "Question Book"

UK Statute Law Database - is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the United Kingdom made available online, but it is not yet up to date.

FaxYourMP - identify and then fax your Member of Parliament
WriteToThem - identify and then contact your Local Councillors, members of devolved assemblies, Member of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament etc.
They Work For You - House of Commons Hansard made more accessible ? UK Members of the European Parliament

Read The Bills Act - USA proposal to force politicians to actually read the legislation that they are voting for, something which is badly needed in the UK Parliament.

Bichard Inquiry delving into criminal records and "soft intelligence" policies highlighted by the Soham murders. (taken offline by the Home Office)

ACPO - Association of Chief Police Officers - England, Wales and Northern Ireland
ACPOS Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland

Online Media

Boing Boing

Need To Know [now defunct]

The Register

NewsNow Encryption and Security aggregate news feed
KableNet - UK Government IT project news
PublicTechnology.net - UK eGovernment and public sector IT news
eGov Monitor

Ideal Government - debate about UK eGovernment

NIR and ID cards

Stand - email and fax campaign on ID Cards etc. [Now defunct]. The people who supported stand.org.uk have gone on to set up other online tools like WriteToThem.com. The Government's contemptuous dismissal of over 5,000 individual responses via the stand.org website to the Home Office public consultation on Entitlement Cards is one of the factors which later led directly to the formation of the the NO2ID Campaign who have been marshalling cross party opposition to Labour's dreadful National Identity Register compulsory centralised national biometric database and ID Card plans, at the expense of simpler, cheaper, less repressive, more effective, nore secure and more privacy friendly alternative identity schemes.

NO2ID - opposition to the Home Office's Compulsory Biometric ID Card
NO2ID bulletin board discussion forum

Home Office Identity Cards website
No compulsory national Identity Cards (ID Cards) BBC iCan campaign site
UK ID Cards blog
NO2ID press clippings blog
CASNIC - Campaign to STOP the National Identity Card.
Defy-ID active meetings and protests in Glasgow
www.idcards-uk.info - New Alliance's ID Cards page
irefuse.org - total rejection of any UK ID Card

International Civil Aviation Organisation - Machine Readable Travel Documents standards for Biometric Passports etc.
Anti National ID Japan - controversial and insecure Jukinet National ID registry in Japan
UK Biometrics Working Group run by CESG/GCHQ experts etc. the UK Government on Biometrics issues feasability
Citizen Information Project feasability study population register plans by the Treasury and Office of National Statistics

CommentOnThis.com - comments and links to each paragraph of the Home Office's "Strategic Action Plan for the National Identity Scheme".

De-Materialised ID - "The voluntary alternative to material ID cards, A Proposal by David Moss of Business Consultancy Services Ltd (BCSL)" - well researched analysis of the current Home Office scheme, and a potentially viable alternative.

Surveillance Infrastructures

National Roads Telecommunications Services project - infrastruture for various mass surveillance systems, CCTV, ANPR, PMMR imaging etc.

CameraWatch - independent UK CCTV industry lobby group - like us, they also want more regulation of CCTV surveillance systems.

Every Step You Take a documentary about CCTV surveillance in the Uk by Austrian film maker Nino Leitner.

Transport for London an attempt at a technological panopticon - London Congestion Charge, London Low-Emission Zone, Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, tens of thousands of CCTV cameras on buses, thousands of CCTV cameras on London Underground, realtime road traffic CCTV, Iyster smart cards - all handed over to the Metropolitan Police for "national security" purposes, in real time, in bulk, without any public accountibility, for secret data mining, exempt from even the usual weak protections of the Data Protection Act 1998.

RFID Links

RFID tag privacy concerns - our own original article updated with photos

NoTags - campaign against individual item RFID tags
Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products has been endorsed by a large number of privacy and human rights organisations.
RFID Privacy Happenings at MIT
Surpriv: RFID Surveillance and Privacy
RFID Scanner blog
RFID Gazette
The Sorting Door Project

RFIDBuzz.com blog - where we sometimes crosspost RFID articles

Genetic Links

DNA Profiles - analysis by Paul Nutteing
GeneWatch UK monitors genetic privacy and other issues
Postnote February 2006 Number 258 - National DNA Database (.pdf) - Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

The National DNA Database Annual Report 2004/5 (.pdf) - published by the NDNAD Board and ACPO.

Eeclaim Your DNA from Britain's National DNA Database - model letters and advice on how to have your DNA samples and profiles removed from the National DNA Database,in spite of all of the nureacratic obstacles which try to prevent this, even if you are innocent.

Miscellanous Links

Michael Field - Pacific Island news - no longer a paradise
freetotravel.org - John Gilmore versus USA internal flight passports and passenger profiling etc.

The BUPA Seven - whistleblowers badly let down by the system.

Tax Credit Overpayment - the near suicidal despair inflicted on poor, vulnerable people by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown's disasterous Inland Revenue IT system.

Fassit UK - resources and help for those abused by the Social Services Childrens Care bureaucracy

Former Spies

MI6 v Tomlinson - Richard Tomlinson - still being harassed by his former employer MI6

Martin Ingram, Welcome To The Dark Side - former British Army Intelligence operative in Northern Ireland.

Operation Billiards - Mitrokhin or Oshchenko ? Michael John Smith - seeking to overturn his Official Secrets Act conviction in the GEC case.

The Dirty Secrets of MI5 & MI6 - Tony Holland, Michael John Smith and John Symond - stories and chronologies.

Naked Spygirl - Olivia Frank

Blog Links

e-nsecure.net blog - Comments on IT security and Privacy or the lack thereof.
Rat's Blog -The Reverend Rat writes about London street life and technology
Duncan Drury - wired adventures in Tanzania & London
Dr. K's blog - Hacker, Author, Musician, Philosopher

David Mery - falsely arrested on the London Tube - you could be next.

James Hammerton
White Rose - a thorn in the side of Big Brother
Big Blunkett
Into The Machine - formerly "David Blunkett is an Arse" by Charlie Williams and Scribe
infinite ideas machine - Phil Booth
Louise Ferguson - City of Bits
Chris Lightfoot
Oblomovka - Danny O'Brien

Liberty Central

dropsafe - Alec Muffett
The Identity Corner - Stefan Brands
Kim Cameron - Microsoft's Identity Architect
Schneier on Security - Bruce Schneier
Politics of Privacy Blog - Andreas Busch
solarider blog

Richard Allan - former Liberal Democrat MP for Sheffield Hallam
Boris Johnson Conservative MP for Henley
Craig Murray - former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, "outsourced torture" whistleblower

Howard Rheingold - SmartMobs
Global Guerrillas - John Robb
Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends

Vmyths - debunking computer security hype

Nick Leaton - Random Ramblings
The Periscope - Companion weblog to Euro-correspondent.com journalist network.
The Practical Nomad Blog Edward Hasbrouck on Privacy and Travel
Policeman's Blog
World Weary Detective

Martin Stabe
Longrider
B2fxxx - Ray Corrigan
Matt Sellers
Grits for Breakfast - Scott Henson in Texas
The Green Ribbon - Tom Griffin
Guido Fawkes blog - Parliamentary plots, rumours and conspiracy.
The Last Ditch - Tom Paine
Murky.org
The (e)State of Tim - Tim Hicks
Ilkley Against CCTV
Tim Worstall
Bill's Comment Page - Bill Cameron
The Society of Qualified Archivists
The Streeb-Greebling Diaries - Bob Mottram

Your Right To Know - Heather Brooke - Freedom off Information campaigning journalist

Ministry of Truth _ Unity's V for Vendetta styled blog.

Bloggerheads - Tim Ireland

W. David Stephenson blogs on homeland security et al.
EUrophobia - Nosemonkey

Blogzilla - Ian Brown

BlairWatch - Chronicling the demise of the New Labour Project

dreamfish - Robert Longstaff

Informaticopia - Rod Ward

War-on-Freedom

The Musings of Harry

Chicken Yoghurt - Justin McKeating

The Red Tape Chronicles - Bob Sullivan MSNBC

Campaign Against the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Stop the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Rob Wilton's esoterica

panGloss - Innovation, Technology and the Law

Arch Rights - Action on Rights for Children blog

Database Masterclass - frequently asked questions and answers about the several centralised national databases of children in the UK.

Shaphan

Moving On

Steve Moxon blog - former Home Office whistleblower and author.

Al-Muhajabah's Sundries - anglophile blog

Architectures of Control in Design - Dan Lockton

rabenhorst - Kai Billen (mostly in German)

Nearly Perfect Privacy - Tiffany and Morpheus

Iain Dale's Diary - a popular Conservative political blog

Brit Watch - Public Surveillance in the UK - Web - Email - Databases - CCTV - Telephony - RFID - Banking - DNA

BLOGDIAL

MySecured.com - smart mobile phone forensics, information security, computer security and digital forensics by a couple of Australian researchers

Ralph Bendrath

Financial Cryptography - Ian Grigg et al.

UK Liberty - A blog on issues relating to liberty in the UK

Big Brother State - "a small act of resistance" to the "sustained and systematic attack on our personal freedom, privacy and legal system"

HosReport - "Crisis. Conspiraciones. Enigmas. Conflictos. Espionaje." - Carlos Eduardo Hos (in Spanish)

"Give 'em hell Pike!" - Frank Fisher

Corruption-free Anguilla - Good Governance and Corruption in Public Office Issues in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla in the West Indies - Don Mitchell CBE QC

geeklawyer - intellectual property, civil liberties and the legal system

PJC Journal - I am not a number, I am a free Man - The Prisoner

Charlie's Diary - Charlie Stross

The Caucus House - blog of the Chicago International Model United Nations

Famous for 15 Megapixels

Postman Patel

The 4th Bomb: Tavistock Sq Daniel's 7:7 Revelations - Daniel Obachike

OurKingdom - part of OpenDemocracy - " will discuss Britain’s nations, institutions, constitution, administration, liberties, justice, peoples and media and their principles, identity and character"

Beau Bo D'Or blog by an increasingly famous digital political cartoonist.

Between Both Worlds - "Thoughts & Ideas that Reflect the Concerns of Our Conscious Evolution" - Kingsley Dennis

Bloggerheads: The Alisher Usmanov Affair - the rich Uzbek businessman and his shyster lawyers Schillings really made a huge counterproductive error in trying to censor the blogs of Tim Ireland, of all people.

Matt Wardman political blog analysis

Henry Porter on Liberty - a leading mainstream media commentator and opinion former who is doing more than most to help preserve our freedom and liberty.

HMRC is shite - "dedicated to the taxpayers of Britain, and the employees of the HMRC, who have to endure the monumental shambles that is Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)."

Head of Legal - Carl Gardner a former legal advisor to the Government

The Landed Underclass - Voice of the Banana Republic of Great Britain

Henrik Alexandersson - Swedish blogger threatened with censorship by the Försvarets Radioanstalt (FRA), the Swedish National Defence Radio Establishement, their equivalent of the UK GCHQ or the US NSA.

World's First Fascist Democracy - blog with link to a Google map - "This map is an attempt to take a UK wide, geographical view, of both the public and the personal effect of State sponsored fear and distrust as seen through the twisted technological lens of petty officials and would be bureaucrats nationwide."

Blogoir - Charles Crawford - former UK Ambassodor to Poland etc.

No CCTV - The Campaign against CCTV

Barcode Nation - keeping two eyes on the database state.

Lords of the Blog - group blog by half a dozen or so Peers sitting in the House of Lords.

notes from the ubiquitous surveillance society - blog by Dr. David Murakami Wood, editor of the online academic journal Surveillance and Society

Justin Wylie's political blog

Panopticon blog - by Timothy Pitt-Payne and Anya Proops. Timothy Pitt-Payne is probably the leading legal expert on the UK's Freedom of Information Act law, often appearing on behlaf of the Information Commissioner's Office at the Information Tribunal.

Armed and Dangerous - Sex, software, politics, and firearms. Life’s simple pleasures… - by Open Source Software advocate Eric S. Raymond.

Georgetown Security Law Brief - group blog by the Georgetown Law Center on National Security and the Law , at Georgtown University, Washington D.C, USA.

Big Brother Watch - well connected with the mainstream media, this is a campaign blog by the TaxPayersAlliance, which thankfully does not seem to have spawned Yet Another Campaign Organisation as many Civil Liberties groups had feared.

Spy on Moseley - "Sparkbrook, Springfield, Washwood Heath and Bordesley Green. An MI5 Intelligence-gathering operation to spy on Muslim communities in Birmingham is taking liberties in every sense" - about 150 ANPR CCTV cameras funded by Home Office via the secretive Terrorism and Allied Matters (TAM) section of ACPO.

FitWatch blog - keeps an eye on the activities of some of the controversial Police Forward Intelligence Teams, who supposedly only target "known troublemakers" for photo and video surveillance, at otherwise legal, peaceful protests and demonstrations.

Other Links

Spam Huntress - The Norwegian Spam Huntress - Ann Elisabeth

Fuel Crisis Blog - Petrol over £1 per litre ! Protest !
Mayor of London Blog
London Olympics 2012 - NO !!!!

Cool Britannia

NuLabour

Free Gary McKinnon - UK citizen facing extradition to the USA for "hacking" over 90 US Military computer systems.

Parliament Protest - information and discussion on peaceful resistance to the arbitrary curtailment of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, in the excessive Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 Designated Area around Parliament Square in London.

Brian Burnell's British / US nuclear weapons history at http://nuclear-weapons.info

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UK Legislation

The United Kingdom suffers from tens of thousands of pages of complicated criminal laws, and thousands of new, often unenforceable criminal offences, which have been created as a "Pretend to be Seen to Be Doing Something" response to tabloid media hype and hysteria, and political social engineering dogmas. These overbroad, catch-all laws, which remove the scope for any judicial appeals process, have been rubber stamped, often without being read, let alone properly understood, by Members of Parliament.

The text of many of these Acts of Parliament are now online, but it is still too difficult for most people, including the police and criminal justice system, to work out the cumulative effect of all the amendments, even for the most serious offences involving national security or terrorism or serious crime.

Many MPs do not seem to bother to even to actually read the details of the legislation which they vote to inflict on us.

UK Legislation Links

UK Statute Law Database - is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the United Kingdom made available online, but it is not yet up to date.

UK Commissioners

UK Commissioners some of whom are meant to protect your privacy and investigate abuses by the bureaucrats.

UK Intelligence Agencies

Intelligence and Security Committee - the supposedly independent Parliamentary watchdog which issues an annual, heavily censored Report every year or so. Currently chaired by the Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Why should either the intelligence agencies or the public trust this committee, when the untrustworthy ex-Labour Minister Hazel Blears is a member ?

Anti-terrorism hotline - links removed in protest at the Climate of Fear propaganda posters

MI5 Security Service
MI5 Security Service - links to encrypted reporting form removed in protest at the Climate of Fear propaganda posters

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Secure Your Fertiliser - advice on ammonium nitrate and urea fertiliser security

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Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure - "CPNI provides expert advice to the critical national infrastructure on physical, personnel and information security, to protect against terrorism and other threats."

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Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) recruitment.

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Government Communications Headquarters GCHQ

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National Crime Agency - the replacement for the Serious Organised Crime Agency

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Defence Advisory (DA) Notice system - voluntary self censorship by the established UK press and broadcast media regarding defence and intelligence topics via the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee.

Foreign Spies / Intelliegence Agencies in the UK

It is not just the UK government which tries to snoop on British companies, organisations and individuals, the rest of the world is constantly trying to do the same, regardless of the mixed efforts of our own UK Intelligence Agencies who are paid to supposedly protect us from them.

For no good reason, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office only keeps the current version of the London Diplomatic List of accredited Diplomats (including some Foreign Intelligence Agency operatives) online.

Presumably every mainstream media organisation, intelligence agency, serious organised crime or terrorist gang keeps historical copies, so here are some older versions of the London Diplomatic List, for the benefit of web search engine queries, for those people who do not want their visits to appear in the FCO web server logfiles or those whose censored internet feeds block access to UK Government websites.

Campaign Button Links

Watching Them, Watching Us - UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign
UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign

NO2ID Campaign - cross party opposition to the NuLabour Compulsory Biometric ID Card
NO2ID Campaign - cross party opposition to the NuLabour Compulsory Biometric ID Card and National Identity Register centralised database.

Gary McKinnon is facing extradition to the USA under the controversial Extradition Act 2003, without any prima facie evidence or charges brought against him in a UK court. Try him here in the UK, under UK law.
Gary McKinnon is facing extradition to the USA under the controversial Extradition Act 2003, without any prima facie evidence or charges brought against him in a UK court. Try him here in the UK, under UK law.

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FreeFarid.com - Kafkaesque extradition of Farid Hilali under the European Arrest Warrant to Spain

Peaceful resistance to the curtailment of our rights to Free Assembly and Free Speech in the SOCPA Designated Area around Parliament Square and beyond
Parliament Protest blog - resistance to the Designated Area restricting peaceful demonstrations or lobbying in the vicinity of Parliament.

Petition to the European Commission and European Parliament against their vague Data Retention plans
Data Retention is No Solution - Petition to the European Commission and European Parliament against their vague Data Retention plans.

Save Parliament: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (and other issues)
Save Parliament - Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (and other issues)

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Open Rights Group

The Big Opt Out Campaign - opt out of having your NHS Care Record medical records and personal details stored insecurely on a massive national centralised database.

Tor - the onion routing network
Tor - the onion routing network - "Tor aims to defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers called onion routers, protecting you from websites that build profiles of your interests, local eavesdroppers that read your data or learn what sites you visit, and even the onion routers themselves."

Tor - the onion routing network
Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor - useful Guide published by Global Voices Advocacy with step by step software configuration screenshots (updated March 10th 2009).

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Amnesty International's irrepressible.info campaign

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BlogSafer - wiki with multilingual guides to anonymous blogging

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NGO in a box - Security Edition privacy and security software tools

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Home Office Watch blog, "a single repository of all the shambolic errors and mistakes made by the British Home Office compiled from Parliamentary Questions, news reports, and tip-offs by the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs team."

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Reporters Without Borders - Reporters Sans Frontières - campaign for journalists 'and bloggers' freedom in repressive countries and war zones.

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Committee to Protect Bloggers - "devoted to the protection of bloggers worldwide with a focus on highlighting the plight of bloggers threatened and imprisoned by their government."

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Icelanders are NOT terrorists ! - despite Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling's use of anti-terrorism legislation to seize the assets of Icelandic banks.

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No CCTV - The Campaign Against CCTV

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I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist !

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Power 2010 cross party, political reform campaign

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Cracking the Black Box - "aims to expose technology that is being used in inappropriate ways. We hope to bring together the insights of experts and whistleblowers to shine a light into the dark recesses of systems that are responsible for causing many of the privacy problems faced by millions of people."

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Open Rights Group - Petition against the renewal of the Interception Modernisation Programme

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WhistleblowersUK.org - Fighting for justice for whistleblowers