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What the fucking fuck

We are constantly told that we live in a free society. It's the outcome of those wars we're so proud of winning. It's the excuse we use when we support one side against another in internecine conflicts in other countries. Freedom, it's all about the freedom baby. Count yourself lucky you're not living in a police state like all those commies, or a crazy theocracy like all those wacky Muslims hey, guys? Am I right? Feel the freedom!

So it comes as something of a surprise, given how up we all are on freedom and whatnot, that a Brazilian national, David Miranda, was detained at Heathrow for nine hours under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, a decidedly unfree spot of legislation which denies detainees access to lawyers or family members for nine hours, after which they must either be charged or reeased. Miranda wasn't charged, he was released. He was released, however, without his laptop, various USB sticks and any device which may have had memory, those, the rozzers kept.

Well, bad luck for him, you may say, but still, the legislation's there to keep us safe from Terrorism. Which is all well and good, except there's no suggestion that Miranda is a terrorist whatsoever. What he is is the partner of the journalist Glenn Greenwald, who's been assiduously investigating the way the US's NSA and our own dear old GCHQ spy upon us as we happily gambol about being all free and that.

I'll recap, in case the full horror of the situation hasn't sunk in yet. A foreign national was arrested on UK soil and detained without charge for nine hours. During this time he was searched, interrogated, denied access to legal help. Despite there being no charge his possessions were seized. He isn't a terrorist. He's not even a journalist. He's the boyfriend of a journalist who's got up the government's nose a bit. We're arresting people who's boyfriend's have legitimately, legally, annoyed the government, now.

Still, at least we're free, eh?

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