havemehavana

Any thoughts? I’m thinking about putting in a Data Protection Act request to see if the Met have me as an official “domestic extremist”*, as per these people [Guardian]. Although I follow the ins-and-outs of political policing, I’m bit clueless about the admin of Forward Intelligence Team evidence gatherers and this database of people who attend protests. (Unsurprising, since they’re not exactly forthcoming about activities.)

With the “pre-emptive arrests” of a street theatre group [Guardian] and the arrest of Queer Resistance activists [Indymedia], (apparently for standing in a park whilst gay,) it’s clear that political policing is on the rise. Increasingly we see valid argument and dissent met with suspicion, intimidation and outright violence. The diverse political philosophies under the umbrella-term “anarchism” have been all but criminalised. The National Public Order Intelligence Unit [FitWatch] is part of this.

There is undoubtedly an attack on the right to protest but perhaps by revealing the absurd nature of police surveillance we can counter it? I doubt there are many people who think the repeated surveillance of an artist in his eighties [Guardian] was necessary. If they’ve got him on there, who else have they blimmin’ got? If it wasn’t for some good journalism in 2009 [Guardian], we might never know about this national database at all. Journalists like Paul Lewis [@paul__lewis] are calling for more people to come forward.

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The info police would require to process my request includes a form of ID (including DOB) and proof of address, which are not things I’ve ever submitted to police. (At least not since I was a kid and handed in £150 I’d found at a cashpoint!) Kind of reluctant to just offer them up to an organisation I don’t trust, whose activities I disagree with, but I suppose they’re things the police probably already know, not least because I tweet publicly under my own name about protests.

In order to get copies of videos and photographs of myself under the act – “for instance, those taken by CCTV cameras or forward intelligence teams - it is essential to specify the time and place when you think you were photographed,” says the Guardian guide. I’m completely open about the protests and meetings I attend, plus my face and full name are on Twitter, so I imagine I’m not difficult to ID.

Apart from the usual FIT evidence gathering along demonstration routes, I’ve tweeted publicly about being photographed/recorded personally at the following places:
 - On the way out of the Westminster Bridge kettle (yes, the one which Theresa May said didn’t exist), 09/12/10.
 - Outside Charing Cross police station in a solidarity demonstration with arrestees from Fortnum & Mason and Trafalgar Square on 26th March, 27/12/11.
There are some other instances that I can remember over the years but I haven’t yet talked about them online so requesting the info would no doubt aid police in filling out my file, should I have one, which I wouldn’t be happy about since I disagree with the bloody things.

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So I’m as yet undecided and would appreciate comments. Are you thinking about making a request? Have you already made one? Thoughts on the pros or cons? Find me on Twitter [@thespyglass] or email me on thespyglass [at] gmail [dot] com. My intention is to post a follow-up to this so if you’d rather I didn’t make your comments/ideas public, please let me know. (Any personal info will NOT be made public unless you ask me to do so.)

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* Here’s FitWatch on Domestic Extremism.