We have to call this kind of abuse by its proper name – torture. We must also call the organised exploitation of unpaid child labour – young girls placed in charge of babies “on a 24-hour basis” or working under conditions of “great suffering” in the rosary bead industry; young boys doing work that gave them no training but made money for the religious orders – by its proper name: slavery. It demands a very painful adjustment of our notions of the nature of the State to accept that it helped to inflict torture and slavery on tens of thousands of children. In the light of the commission’s report, however, we can no longer take comfort in evasions.

I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to read the report itself.

On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient on its face.” This means that even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept as “fact”) were true, they would not constitute a crime. The US Department of Justice had thirty days from the date of the ruling to appeal. No action has been taken in this time period, thus stopping any appeal of the dismissal. According to Margaret McFarland, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Terrance P. Flynn, the DoJ will not appeal Arcara’s ruling and will not seek any new charges against Kurtz.

For over a decade, cultural institutions worldwide have hosted Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects, which use common science materials to examine issues surrounding the new biotechnologies. In 2004 the Department of Justice alleged that Dr. Kurtz had schemed with colleague Dr. Robert Ferrell of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to illegally acquire two harmless bacteria cultures for use in one of those projects. The Justice Department further alleged that the transfer of the material from Ferrell to Kurtz broke a material transfer agreement, thus constituting mail fraud.

Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum sentence for these charges was increased from five years to twenty years in prison.

Dr. Kurtz has been fighting the charges ever since. In October 2007, Dr. Ferrell pleaded to a lesser misdemeanor charge after recurring bouts of cancer and three strokes suffered since his indictment prevented him from continuing the struggle.

I’m actually going to have to tear myself away from the feed right now, but look forward to following the substantial coverage tomorrow….

Now I am no fan of the liberal apologia, which attributes blame only to the privileged, and makes excuses for all others. I understand that in seeking a target for blame for a broken window, you could do worse than the man who threw the brick. But I am alarmed at where discourse like that quoted above appears to be leading us. There is an underclass in Ireland, which is both disenfranchised and irresponsible, the two being opposite sides of the coin of social exclusion. We would all, myself and Mr. McMahon included, like to see that underclass eliminated. But whereas I would hope to see this happen through improvements in the lives of its members, others are less patient, and just want the skangers to go away. By whatever means necessary. Order must be imposed. I have yet to hear the word “vermin” applied to the rioters, but I imagine it won’t be long in coming.

Waking up on Saturday morning – on Illinois time – to news of riots in Dublin was not something I expected. The first hint I got was from fluffy’s blog, with of course much more coverage elsewhere, as he indicated. Gavin has summarized some of the blog coverage – I also checked out what Indymedia had to say.

My personal reaction is very similar to that of most political leaders: the Love Ulster parade was undoubtedly intended to be provocative (you’ve only got to look at the fact that some of the spokespeople were DUP leaders, and wonder why a Unionist/Loyalist parade should take place in Dublin; the Orange Order’s history of using parades for provocation should persuade the wavering) but the violent reaction is both to be condemned as unjustified, and decried as counter-productive.

Some (not most) Indymedia posts were by people who took part in the riot, trying to portray it as a reaction to heavy-handed policing. So a peaceful protest turned into people throwing fireworks and petrol bombs (spot the pre-planning?), breaking windows of multiple businesses, stealing alcohol from off-licenses, and throwing chairs through the windows of the offices of political parties, because some Gardaí pushed forward a little forcefully? Somehow, I think not. Mailing lists I’m on have received mails indicating that warnings were being circulated well in advance that significant trouble was being planned for yesterday (which of course casts some doubt on the state of the Garda Siochána’s intelligence).

This riot was not a successful anti-corporate, anti-fascist or anti-imperial action. It was the work of thugs and provocateurs who get off on violence and disorder. The forces of hatred and sectarianism – on both sides – are the only members of our society who are happy today.

The compromise, agreed by the major party groups, seems somehow incoherent – it doesn’t set a common period for retention, it removes provisions for compensating ISPs and telcos for the costs involved in retention, and it includes the standard fudge about being a temporary measure subject to review in three years time.

Due to my travel schedule I didn’t get around to blogging about this at the time, but that’s OK, because data retention is such a hot topic now that there have been several other developments since that deserve to be squeezed in.

First, Boing Boing reported on UK plans to track all car movements – keeping the records for two years. At first this seemed a little unlikely – perhaps an overstatement of their policies or plans – but further research showed that this was merely an extension of the application of their ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system, which draws from the huge number of CCTV cameras in the UK, the largest in the world. From the first of January, i.e. yesterday, the ANPR system is being expanded to put all sightings of number plates into a database, which can later be mined for who-knows-what.

And then, pat on cue it comes, a report in the Irish Times that the Garda Síochána, the Irish police force, are to purchase and install an ANPR system. Or rather, they have a request pending at Garda Headquarters to do so. According to the article, the request is expected – by whom it doesn’t say – to be approved shortly. Among the advantages of the system listed in the article are more efficient tracking of cars without insurance or tax, or of stolen vehicles – the system will interact with a fixed set of cameras on 50 Garda traffic unit vehicles.

It’s probably not surprising – given the manner in which the article seems to be uncritically acting as (pardon the pun) a vehicle for a Garda press leak – that no questions are raised about possible shortcomings of the system. I wonder, though, just when proposals will be made public to fully leverage the capabilities of the system by expanding its remit to retaining records of all car movements.

• The website for Radio Research Ireland, a new network of individuals and organisations who share an interest in Irish radio and research, has been launched. The site is run out of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, home of Wired FM, and is co-ordinated by Rosemary Day, who I know from my time with Flirt FM. There are currently 16 members listed, from industry professionals and regulators to academics, and the list of interests of the members gives a good overview of the types of research currently being undertaken. One to watch.
• Alternet has a good overview of the history and current state of the prosecution of Steve Kurtz of the Critical Artists Ensemble. It’s over a year since I pointed to the story here and some readers may not be aware of it, so I recommend reading up on it. You can also contribute to Steve’s legal costs.
• Jennifer Whitney of LiP magazine has posted an interesting review of Indymedia, highlighting a number of shortcomings. While I don’t agree with everything she writes she does provide some food for thought.
• SEIU and the Teamsters left the AFL-CIO. While I appreciate the many problems within the U.S. union movement, I find it difficult to see how a split movement (with the poaching that is likely to occur) will be of use. I should also point to my friend Zwichenzug who is providing some of the most thoughtful analysis I’ve encountered on this issue.
• A second case involving prosecution for using an open WiFi network was highlighted. As someone who regularly uses wireless connectivity – generally, but not exclusively, in coffee houses that provide their own access points – this is a somewhat perplexing development. While many internet users, particularly in places like Ireland where broadband connections have traffic caps (in the region of several GB), may wish to restrict access by others, surely a reasonable approach is the use of passwords or (as more technically adept friends have implemented) hidden networks with MAC address white-lists, rather than leaving networks open to the elements and then blaming others for assuming the open nature implied consent. I’d blame ISPs and others for shipping routers with access security turned off by default, but I’d be worried that they would start supplying equipment that was incapable of allowing open access….
• The IRA has announced an end to armed operations. The wording of the statement is generally good, though like others I’ve seen enough wiggling by the IRA in recent years to be sceptical of anything they produce. In particular, the statement says nothing about future recruiting by the IRA and they don’t specifically address issues such as criminal activity (something with whichthey have continued to be involved during their ceasefire). As ever, however, hope springs eternal.

The front door to the Four Courts is the symbol of the public’s access to justice. It is the physical manifestation of the means by which the citizens of the Republic of Ireland can ensure that they can gain access to the events happening and decisions being made under that Seal of a harp. It is the promise of Article 34.1 carved in stone and wood. And that is too important to lose to bureaucratic “organisation”.

There is more to public space than its physical manifestation but the nature of that physical place – particularly in a key space like the courts – can have great symbolic resonances. Simon is right to challenge the unthinking bureaucratic moves that are underway – and which are in many ways similar to the attempted introduction of electronic voting about which I wrote so much last year – and I wish him well in his actions on this topic.

Update (2005-04-29): The protesters have won their case.

So much, so ordinary. But the sisters and partner of Robert have campaigned vigorously for justice and the attitude towards the IRA seems to be shifting. People in (working-class nationalist communities in) the North are beginning to voice criticism in a way that wouldn’t have happened in the past. The IRA and Sinn Féin have been put on the back foot, having to take remedial action to show that “no, this isn’t what we’re really like.” The IRA issued a statement announcing that it had expelled three members, and calling on members of the community to co-operate in seeking justice in the case. [The IRA ordered at least one of the three to return to the North after he subsequently moved to the Republic.] It is noticeable, though, that neither SinnFéin nor the IRA can bear to say that people should talk to the police.

Now, in one of the crazier turns in this story, the IRA have issued another statement saying that they had made an offer to Robert’s sisters to have the killers shot, but that the sisters hadn’t accepted this. What? Yes – they’ve seen the complaints about vigilantes and their members seeing themselves as – literally – a law unto themselves and have responded by offering to, well, be a law unto themselves.