Free speech in Britain: Police tracking people who bought …

posted at 5:31 pm on February 14, 2015 by Jazz Shaw

Wait a minute wasnt David Cameron at the front of the line for that Paris rally in support of Charlie Hebdo not that long ago? Im pretty sure that we were all supposed to be on the same page when it comes to the whole free speech, satire is okay bandwagon. But if thats the case, why were the British police tracking down the people who bought copies of the magazine when they put out that record setting edition?

Several British police forces have questioned newsagents in an attempt to monitor sales of a special edition of Charlie Hebdo magazine following the Paris attacks, the Guardian has learned.

Officers in Wiltshire, Wales and Cheshire have approached retailers of the magazine, it has emerged, as concerns grew about why police were attempting to trace UK-based readers of the French satirical magazine.

Wiltshire police apologised on Monday after admitting that one of its officers had asked a newsagent to hand over the names of readers who bought a special survivors issue of the magazine published after its top staff were massacred in Paris last month.

The case in Corsham, Wiltshire, was thought to be an isolated incident but it has since emerged that Cheshire constabulary and Dyfed-Powys police have also approached newsagents over the sale of Charlie Hebdo.

In at least two cases in Wiltshire and in Presteigne, Wales officers have requested that newsagents hand over the names of customers who bought the magazine.

Thats a few too many cases to be written off as an isolated incident or some rogue police chief. And its seems far too stupid for a group of random individuals to have thought it up independently at the same time. This has the appearance of an orchestrated, fairly broad intelligence gathering operation. I actually first caught wind of this story at The Pundit Press, where the incredulity of other free speech advocates is reported and understandable.

This is so ridiculous as to be almost laughable, fumed Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of a free expression campaign group. And it would be funny if it didnt reflect a more general worrying increase in abuse of police powers in invading privacy and stifling free speech in Britain.

Does possessing a legally published satirical magazine make people criminal suspects now? If so, I better confess that I too have a copy of Charlie Hebdo.

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Free speech in Britain: Police tracking people who bought ...