Social Control

from the register, 24 August 2010: A microwave "pain ray" energy weapon, deemed too controversial for US military use in Iraq, has nonetheless gone into service. A trial installation is in use at a prison in Los Angeles for the purpose of quelling fights among the inmates... "We hope that this type of technology will either cause an inmate to stop an assault or lessen the severity of an assault by them being distracted by the pain as a result of the beam," Commander Bob Osborne of the LA County Sheriff's Department told the Los Angeles Daily News..." more

from schnews, 23 July 2010: Ian Tomlinson’s son, Paul King - "After 16 months of waiting, to hear nothing is being done is a complete joke. Today they gave us no hope. This experience has broken our family apart. The DPP has told us there was an unlawful act, yet no charges are to be brought. This is no justice - everyone has failed us."

Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old news-vendor, was killed at the G20 protests in April 2009. His family have waited until now to find out what action the justice system was going to take. The Director of Public Prosecution Keir Starmer stated yesterday (22nd) that there would be. er, no charges brought against any police officers involved in the death of Ian Tomlinson... more

from Czytelnik CIA, 16 July 2010: "These days, Greece is in the headlines because of the crisis: the imminant threat of state bankrupcy, the dictate by IMF and the EU to cut the budget which will drive big parts of the population into poverty, who react with furious protest, general strikes and big demonstrations. It is hard to say how the situation will develop this summer. It should be obvious though that this is not solely a Greek crisis. The Euro is stumbling in Greece, but it is the Europe of Maastricht which strikes back..." more

from denverabc, 16 July 2010: "Please note this comes from a capitalist news source and seems very much intended at continuing the the counter-insurgency model of dealing with the rebellion surrounding the Oscar Grant verdict.

Although almost all photos and video of the night show black and brown community members from Oakland attacking the downtown area, the media and law enforcement have tried to blame "outside agitators" and "anarchists" for the rebellion. These accusations aim to downplay the local involvement of hundreds of youth of color who were rightfully enraged by the verdict..." more

OAKLAND, California: In the early hours of January 1st 2009, BART police shot and killed a 22 year old man, Oscar Grant, on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. Witnesses report that Grant was "lying on his stomach with his hands out in a non-threatening position when he was shot" by cop Johannes Mehserle.

Recent articles from the newswires that include the keywords: Oscar, Grant, Mehserle... more

by Lesley Wood, 12 July 2010, via Toronto Media Co-op: "During last week’s G20 summit, police arrested or detained over a thousand people. With guns drawn, they kicked people awake, they threatened, pepper sprayed, TASERed, tear gassed and beat those in the streets. Although the politicians declared the policing at the summit a success, popular anger at the police is at an all time high. At such moments, it is important to look closely at the tactics and strategy that were used to police dissent, not least because the models that are considered successful, tend to spread..." more

from denverabc, 6 July 2010: "Deliberations in the trial of a former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer accused of murder in the shooting of an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform will have to start anew Wednesday (7 July 2010) because of juror absences. The jury’s deliberations were postponed Tuesday after a juror called in sick. Another juror has a previously scheduled vacation, so the court will seat an alternate when court proceedings resume Wednesday..." more

from EFF, 18 June 2010: "Today EFF and the Tor Project are launching a public beta of a new Firefox extension called HTTPS Everywhere. This Firefox extension was inspired by the launch of Google's encrypted search option. We wanted a way to ensure that every search our browsers sent was encrypted. At the same time, we were also able to encrypt most or all of the browser's communications with some other sites..." more

from gipfelsoli, 25 May 2010: "CANADA: CTV News has learned that Ottawa expects to spend $833 million on security for next month’s G8 and G20 summits. In March, the federal government had allocated $179 million for its security budget. But under new estimates that will be introduced in the House of Commons later Tuesday, these costs should increase by $654 million to a total of $833 million, officials tell CTV..." more

from gamesmonitor, updated 18 April 2010: "By Mike Wells - Security precautions for London 2012 include the construction of a 17.5 km, 5,000volt electric fence, topped with 900 daylight and night vision surveillance cameras spaced at 50 metre intervals. On first sight of the fence you could be forgiven for thinking you had slipped through a wormhole in the space-time continuum to find yourself on the perimeter of a Soviet era Gulag..." more

Updated daily: Articles from external newswires filtered for the keyword "Haiti"... more

from email, 29 March 2010: "The Stockholm Programme, the latest in a series of EU agreements on security policy, was endorsed in December 2009. Based on the "principle of availability", the Programme plans to enable the cross-border collection, processing and sharing of data on a massive scale. Supposedly promoting "openness and security", it is a further step towards a hi-tech Fortress Europe..." more

from irr, 25 March 2010: "Baroness O'Loan's report to the UK Border Agency uncovers casual brutality and callous neglect in detention centres. She details serious injuries to detainees during attempts to remove them from the UK included a broken finger, a dislocated knee and a punctured lung. Force was frequently resorted to as a first rather than last resort, with no consideration given to its necessity or proportionality..." more

from email, 25 March 2010: "Assemble 12 Noon, Wednesday 14 April, Olympia Way W14, near Kensington Olympia, West Kensington, High Street Kensington, and Barons Court stations. Sponsored by arms company Thales, and organised by Clarion Events - responsible for Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEi), the world's largest arms fair, the Counter Terror Expo takes place between 14-15 April 2010 at Olympia, London..." more

from denverabc, updated 23 March 2010: "Havoc broke out within minutes of Montreal’s 14th annual anti-police brutality march on Monday 15 March, resulting in about one hundred arrests. Arresting large groups, riot police gathered people and cornered them against a wall. The two sides remained in a standoff for over an hour before the protesters were loaded into city buses and carted to a police station in the city’s east end..." more