not really
why do people suddenly think that just because it is the internet they can say what they wish. What would happen if they stood on a street corner giving the same information?
Twitter should be more proactive in blocking tweets about police checkpoints, according to the Brazilian Attorney, who reckons a daily fine of R$500,000 ($290,000) will get the company moving. If the injunction, lodged with the Federal Court of Goiás, is successful, then Twitter will be obliged to suspend accounts which warn …
That translation is pretty much bunk. "The law is harsh, but it's the law" at least implies that there is a reason the law is harsh. You, on the other hand, seem to've botched transforming this into the old "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime". Which is something else entirely.
Anyway, these actions are rather more likely to trigger the Streisand effect, while at the same time driving up the cost of being a service provider within Brazil, stifling innovation. You know, the chilling effect and all that. That is, two unwanted effects for no remedy to the problem. Carry on Brazilian law enforcement.
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Don't kill the messenger.
Twitter is just a means of information exchange, if people didn't tweet about locations of police checkpoints they'd do it via some other means - SMS, email, NNTP, whatever. It's time for governments to grow up and realise they can't prevent people exchanging information.
I never can understand how a person can take one group - in this case DHS - and apply it to the entire population of a country. DHS isn't even an elected group.
Show of hands on how many Brits would like the BNP to be randomly selected as the group du jour to represent them.
But then Bill refers to us as septics, so I think he has an axe to grind anyway. (and spare me the 'tis but innocent cockney rhyming slang' bs)
Why are you assuming that you need to be doing something wrong to want to avoid a roadblock? It takes time and exposes you to an increased threat of something unpleasant happening. Even if your car, papers and driving are all flawless; the police can always find something to spoil your day with if they are in the right (wrong) mood.
My grandmother was killed and grandfather injured by a group of teens that weren't avoiding a test point. It was Sunday afternoon and very nice out; the kind of day the police wouldn't really think to put a check point up at right after church. I really doubt that most drunks are going to take the time to see where the local check point because they're usually too damn lazy to find someone to take them home in the first place. We have police stationed before them, so if someone sees it from a distance and turns around, they still are caught.
The reason these tweets exists is, aside from not wanting to be caught, because most people are tired of constant monitoring of bullshit aspects of their lives. There's no reason for cameras to catch speeders. An actual policaman is more than enough to stop the really bad offenders and let the rest of the 'bending the law' crowd go. As backwards as my state is at times, it's actually illegal to use cameras to catch speeders (good ol' S. Carolina).
AND...
Considering this is Brazil, I'm doubting the police are shining examples of incorruptable government officials. They can be as bad as the criminals. And those good police probably work in departments already filled with those on 'the take', so if Twitter isn't used to inform the local criminal element , another electronic means will be. It's not like criminals have suddenly stopped being caught because Twitter came about.
Secondly, Twitter isn't going to be able scan all tweets for certain key words. People will change their behaviour and use a euphemism if they're stuff is being censored.
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Several years ago, I went through the same checkpoint four times in 30 minutes.
I was working as a courier and the local police set up their license/registration/insurance checkpoint on the road between our office and one of our best customers.
The first stop took five minutes as did the second one on the way back to the office. On the next delivery, about 15 minutes later, again, it took about 5 minutes...on the return trip they did actually just wave me through.
20 minutes later, on my 3rd trip back, they were gone... I was so disappointed.
On the other hand, I can remember going though one drunk-check while being severely in the bag.
I don't do that any more because getting drunk and then going to jail is a waste of good alcohol.
"More acceptable was the threat of up to half-a-decade in prison for those posting information about police raids, which is fine when that information is about an incoming drugs bust, but harder to justify when it's the location of a breathalyser-testing point."
As someone whose sister was killed with a car, I find it somewhat easier to sympathise with this.
Isn't the desired result to prevent crime? If so, why should it be criminal to warn other drivers about police speed traps since the end result of said warning is that drivers slow down and thus the crime of speeding is prevented.
Or, is it true that the only function of speed traps is to fund the police ball at christmas?
wankers
Naivety in operation. Random speed traps that people don't know about doesn't stop them speeding, it just raises revenue. The only ones that get people (more often) to slow down are "average speed" cameras/traps and then that's only "on average" as Clarkson showed on Top Gear. There is no foolproof scheme as the tales of banned drivers driving away from court proves. Perhaps the concept of seizing and/or destroying their vehicle may help.
Just flood Twitter with fake police checkpoint locations and have fun watching the populace looking for them. All this of course without losing the capacity to quickly install and dismantle those checkpoints somewhere else and successfully ambush those who disregard the laws.
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You're kidding right? Please, indicate one petition put up on the number 10 website that resulted in anything more than a generic "we understand your concerns and have taken the matter into consideration" type response. Some of those had tens of thousands of signatures but were basically ignored.
The government doesn't take petitions seriously.
...I was watching episode 2 of the first series of Yes Minister last night and Bernard was explaining to Hacker that he could simply transfer all correspondence from his inbox to his outbox without needing to read any of it. The civil servants would then generate standard responses such as "we're considering the matter" or if they were feeling especially generous "we're actively considering the matter".
He went on to explain the former meant "we've lost the file" and the latter meant "we've lost the file but we're looking for it"
That was an amazingly insightful script written over 30 years ago.
The idea of "I have the right to say anything I want" and the idea of "You said that, we don't want you here" are not inconsistent. I have the right to express myself, but that does NOT absolve me of the consequences of my speech. I have the right to say "Harleys suck dick as do their riders", but I probably ought not say so aloud in Sturgis, SD the first full week of August. I have the right to say "Monarchy is stupid, and so is the Queen", but I should expect to be flamed to holy hell here on The Register.co.UK. (BTW - neither of those hypothetical expressions of free speech are indeed my true feelings - Harleys are great, and the Queen is really a better human being than 90% of the so-call leaders out there).
I support the right of all the Reg commentators to say whatever they wish, up to and including disparaging my country. I support my country's right to take that speech into account when they visit, just as I would expect England to take my speech into account when I visit. Freedom of speech does not imply freedom from all consequences of that speech.
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Does Brazil have children's band (citizen's band, aka CFR47 part 95 around these parts)? Are truck drivers as active there as they are here on ch19? And does Brazil's equivalent of the FCC crack down on the mother truckers when they do the equivalent of "aaaaaahhhh there's a bunch of bars heya checkin' swindle sheets monback" (there are police here inspecting your transportation logs, please respond if copy).