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Things like this: From Grad to Bad
I'm put in mind of an incident here in Christchurch a few years ago where the police raided the flat -next door to- the one their target was staying in. He of course escaped while they were busy pounding the perfectly innocent inhabitants next door into the floor. Unfortunately I haven;t been able to turn up the incident online - even after filtering out the ongoing DotCom saga and preceding Urewera raids.
I'm not concerned about being mugged, interrupting a burglary, I'm not even worried about home invasion. But the fact that people who are supposed to protect me could
- arbitrarily ruin my life (or one of my friend's lives) for an indeterminate period of time even if I (or friend) have done nothing illegal
- and can reasonably (based on past history) be expected to face no consequences of their own for that action
- and despite the fact that I am probably well protected for that likelihood by multiple layers of privilege
that is what makes me feel unsafe in my own home.
~~~
Accountability is the missing factor. And so it is with the GCSB bill. The powers that be have been found to be ... if not breaking the word of the law at least breaking the spirit of the law. And instead of fronting up and holing themselves accountable for this they have simply changed the law to make what they have done (and more besides) "legal".
That is not the action of someone who believes in the rule of law. That is the action of a type of person who believes that those who have the power make the rules, who believes those who have the power are not bound by the rules.
This article explains clearly why it is important that those who are affected by the rules are able to break them up to a point. But for those who are permitted lawful exceptions to some rules the bar must be higher in relation to those duties, such is the trust supposedly placed in them. If they breach that trust they must be able to - required to if necessary - publicly account for their actions.
Else we become no more than a nation oppressed by petty despots fortified within the apparatus of government/"public" service and playing out their own fantasies and power trips.
Just two months after finishing the final papers of his undergraduate degree, Tilden* found himself in a cell in Rimutaka Prison, facing charges against his name that could land him with a 14-year sentence. Six months on from his arrest, and still yet to enter his plea of innocence before the courts, Tilden reflects on his experiences with justice.
I'm put in mind of an incident here in Christchurch a few years ago where the police raided the flat -next door to- the one their target was staying in. He of course escaped while they were busy pounding the perfectly innocent inhabitants next door into the floor. Unfortunately I haven;t been able to turn up the incident online - even after filtering out the ongoing DotCom saga and preceding Urewera raids.
I'm not concerned about being mugged, interrupting a burglary, I'm not even worried about home invasion. But the fact that people who are supposed to protect me could
- arbitrarily ruin my life (or one of my friend's lives) for an indeterminate period of time even if I (or friend) have done nothing illegal
- and can reasonably (based on past history) be expected to face no consequences of their own for that action
- and despite the fact that I am probably well protected for that likelihood by multiple layers of privilege
that is what makes me feel unsafe in my own home.
~~~
Accountability is the missing factor. And so it is with the GCSB bill. The powers that be have been found to be ... if not breaking the word of the law at least breaking the spirit of the law. And instead of fronting up and holing themselves accountable for this they have simply changed the law to make what they have done (and more besides) "legal".
That is not the action of someone who believes in the rule of law. That is the action of a type of person who believes that those who have the power make the rules, who believes those who have the power are not bound by the rules.
This article explains clearly why it is important that those who are affected by the rules are able to break them up to a point. But for those who are permitted lawful exceptions to some rules the bar must be higher in relation to those duties, such is the trust supposedly placed in them. If they breach that trust they must be able to - required to if necessary - publicly account for their actions.
Else we become no more than a nation oppressed by petty despots fortified within the apparatus of government/"public" service and playing out their own fantasies and power trips.
