Next time you're reaching down for that iPod or Zune (or anything else for that matter), take care that you don't alarm the authorities with any suspicious movements -- or you could end up like the UK's Darren Nixon. Apparently, the mild-mannered mechanic was on his way home from work when the Bobbies surrounded him and drew their guns, believing that the MP3 player in his pocket was a firearm. According to the Daily Mail, Mr. Nixon was tracked on CCTV, arrested at gunpoint, swabbed for DNA, fingerprinted, and thrown in a cell -- all for listening to a bootleg of
Chinese Democracy on a 4GB Philips
GoGear. Said Darren, "I was really shocked when I saw the guns. They were pointing them right at me. It was a pretty scary experience. I had no idea what was going on." After the team of Mentat cops realized their mistake, they couldn't even offer an apology, said Nixon, "They just dropped me off at home and said a quick 'sorry for any inconvenience', and that was all I got from them, which I thought was pretty out of order." Once again, a hot serving of sweet justice.
[Via
CrunchGear]
posted Feb 13th 2008 11:08AM
Woah!! Swabbed for DNA!!!?? WTF! I thought Bloomberg was the only a$$hole who wanted to bring this sort of sh!t into law.
Man, I thought the US was going down the gurgler...
You have no privacy in the UK, none. Its like a futuristic horror movie.
Do you not live on Earth? Every country is crappy in at least one or two (or sixteen) significant ways.
And people call me crazy for wanting to one day steal an anti-satellite laser and take over the moooonnn!!!
Now they like to take your DNA for anything you do. They ask you personal questions "Are you a master of locksmithing, do you know how to break locks, are you a computer hacker? do you have advanced knowledge of computing?" and all that bollocks, along with taking a mugshot, fingerprints and a DNA swab.
All western countries are going down, the ruling class are going mad, the cops are the canaries in the mine.
As a response, I would point out that no one in the UK has ever been jailed, deported, or had their carers and livelihoods ruined by a group of paranoid mini-hitlers who deemed them to be practising "UnBritish activities".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee
...and now every country on earth wants to start taking your picture and finger printing you when to visit them. WTF!
Fanman, funny, I thought that's why the Pilgrims left in the first place.
Hardly surprising. Orwell would be rolling in his grave knowing that the UK is leading the charge into totalitarianism, even more so than our crazy American brethren!
My question to you Brits: Why the hell do you keep voting for people that throw CCTV cameras up everywhere and routinely violate your rights? It *is* still a democracy, no?
This is the only way I know how to check my profile info. Disregard.
Potato
England is barely a democracy, they turn more socialist by the day. Voting is the only real right they have left, as they continually sacrifice their rights, especially privacy, for additional security.
If the countries of the world are heading down the road to 1984, England will be one of the first ones to get there.
And by the way fanman, HUAC was abolished after the red scare died down, after the people got the House to realize we completely overreacted to communist threats. And (this part is key), the collective of American people remembered that people who would trade freedom for security will loose both and deserve neither.
Although, unfortunately, it looks like the current viewpoint of Americans is that the opposite is true, with everyone being so paranoid about everything. And this worries me a whole lot because I do not want this country to wind up like England, where CCTV cameras monitor your every move. Does the common English person even realize how scary the acceptance of "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" is?
But I digress. Isn't this a technology blog?
@Dave
Not Socialist. Totalitarian.
V for Vendetta?
I said it before and will again
"Homo Paranoicus"
(too bad there's no italics)
WebOn
@Dave
I agree. The republicans and their brain-dead constituents (if not stopped) are going to turn this country into 1984 faster than you can imagine. Amazing to me that these people can go through the "red scare" McCarthyism bullshit, and then a generation later are being lead into the same fear-mongering panic with terrorism. Seriously DOES NO ONE in this stupid country understand the extreme danger of revoking Geneva Conventions rights, indefinite detention with charges/trial, rendition, etc. I mean I constantly have to stop for a second and ask "Is this REALLY America I am living in?".
VERY SAD DAYS. BUSH IS A BIG STAIN ON OUR GOOD FLAG. FUCK THE CONSERVATIVES!
to Dave:
1984 was not a criticism of socialism. In fact, Orwell *was* a socialist. 1984 is a criticism of totalitarianism and corrupted communism. Don't confuse them - it can get awkward.
@fanman
I sort of remember a mini-Hitler by the name of King George!! He didn't like those upstarts in the colonies causing trouble. as I remember he imprisoned many people. Then there is the Tower of London, a prison to keep political prisoners (years ago).
The Patriot act is a horrible piece of legislature. it doesn't give street cops powers, bu tit does give overzealous moronic prosecutors and federal investigators a LOT of power. Those pricks!
I thought Bobbies only had clubs?
Same here.
Those cops are lucky they did not do that in the US, the law suits that the cops, operators, and anyone involved could of received would of allowed that guy to be set for life... he would of been able to listen to that mp3 player without going to work for his whole life.
Maybe - or maybe more so 8 years ago. Now, the Patriot Act can enable cops to get out of something like that by claiming fear of terrorism.
Bush & his cronies have really f&*ked this place up in the last 8 years!
@Skeezle
Ummm, since the Patriot Act passed the Senate 98-1 and the House 357 to 66 I think there is more blame to go around then just on "Bush and his cronies"
@Dorf
You really think anyone in congress would vote against something called the "PATRIOT act" ? The people who crafted the bill certainly knew what they were doing, unfortunately.
I love boobies!
If you haven't figured it out yet, the Senate and House will practically do whatever "The Prez" wants because they wouldn't want him to veto something down the line and they all pretty much go golfing on the weekends together. They wouldn't want to lose that privilege.
I also was under the understanding that Bobbies only carried Billy Clubs.
This just proves British cops shouldn't be given guns. Should have been obvious after they killed that Brazilian guy.
The Bobbies normally don't have guns, only a special armed forces division do. If a normal police officer suspects someone has a gun, they normally ask the armed force to take care of it. For this case, the man was in the car, so a police vehicle would probably follow quietly behind, until the armed forces division arrived.
Actually, it's USA PATRIOT Act, and it's an acronym designed to make it seem "patriotic" when it's anything buy.
If they were being honest, it would at least be called U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, but they purposely arranged it and dropped those periods to get an emotional response out of the name.
It stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001"
It includes such things as offering police, courts, and the government the right to deny a person an attorney, a trial, or their citizenship if they are declared a terrorist.
And what is a terrorist as defined by the Act?
Anyone who commits acts against the security of the United States or citizens of the United States.
That's the broad definition. Under that definition, they could legally declare a person who starts a brawl a "terrorist" and thus deny him bail, deny him a lawyer, and deny him a trial.
The President can determine who is a terrorist, and he need provide no evidence of his accusations. Under the current law as it stands, the President could literally point a finger at you and say "He's a terrorist" and you would go to prison with no trial. There is no burden of proof upon the President of the United States or the Attorney General to prove their claims of terrorism.
At least, that how it was last time I bothered to study it. Maybe it changed. I doubt it, though.
I dread the day when we get CCTV cameras everywhere like in the U.K., though. That system just plain sucks. I love the U.K., but having a camera everywhere in their society makes the place feel quite close to the Britain described by Mr. Orwell in his novel.
The PATRIOT Act has absolutely NO increase in power for the police. However, people *think* it does, so police are able to use this misconception to there advantages.
Know your rights and don't be afraid to assert them!
http://www.flexyourrights.org/
"didn't offer an apology". "Said sorry for the inconvenience".
Just contradicted himself didn't he? Related to any other Nixon's we know?
Wait a minute! He had a bootleg copy of music and they didn't lock the savage criminal up in a dank, dark hole for the rest of his natural life?
Hasn't anyone in UK law enforcement heard that the IIPA and RIAA released a report that IP crime is more significant then burglary, murder, bank robbery, terrorism, necrophilia, and speeding? This animal should have been simply shot on sight for having pirated music. He is obviously the root of all evil on the planet.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I feel sorry for the bloke, but still what do people expect when CCTV is used to determine innocence or guilt?
@ Mike
Thankfully, this shows that cops still have more important issues than breaking copyright law. You know, such as murder and what not.
The BBC claimed the other day, that every time you download illegal music your ISP will warn you, and on the 3rd time your details will be given to the police and you will be prosecuted.
I would like to know how they are going to do this, how do they know what you are downloading?
if you ain't allowed a bootleg chinese democracy, then you ain't allowed nothing ;)
His DNA was sent to the RIAA. lol.
He might have been misquoted. But I was wondering the same thing when I read the article.
Lets spin this. You are the person the cops are pointing the guns at. You instantly become subhuman and they get your DNA, fingerprinted, arrested, recorded, and locked in a jail cell. Then they dump you off at your house and say "Sorry for the inconvenience." Don't you think that's grossly out of proportion?
That's like if someone went to your house, burned your cat, kicked your door down and raped you. Then said "Oops, wrong house. My bad, sorry"
Sorry, gunpoint? All my life I have lived here in the UK and not once have I EVER seen the Fuzz brandishing guns! Maybe we're going backwards :)
Go out in Liverpool over the weekend. I live there, trust me on this. The walk home can be VERY interesting.
I did once, and also near where I live, armed police surrounded someone carrying a BB gun. I live in the Garden of England, so that shows that the whole country has gone to crap.
Plus Hot Fuzz is one of the best films in the world.
If required, a force of around 10 armed police can be at the scene within 6 minutes.
Also, in airports armed police are everywhere, understandably.
Well at least Bobbies don't dump quadriplegics out of wheelchairs:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/12/florida-police-dump-quadr_n_86290.html
When did the Bobbies get the Mentat training? Were their names Miles and Duncan? Sign me up. Why didn't they just use their tachyon net to catch him? (Currently reading Hunters of Dune).
Given the nature of their actions, I think a more likely name would be Piter.
Is that thing out in paperback yet?
Is it a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
Sry it's a gun. Don't believe me? Take a look *points gun in Geir E's face*
It was bad luck for him they managed to find a policeman who wasn't busy arresting some-one for urinating in a public convienience, or driving a car with both hands on the wheel.
Everything, even obeying the law, gets you arrested in the UK, whereas I saw a Currys delivery driver using a hand-held mobile while a police car was behind him, I felt like stopping and telling the police-man to arrest the driver, but I would likely have been arrested for wasting police time by reporting a crime.
The currys vehicle was in motion, and he actually nearly crashed into a parked car, so I don't know what the police-man was doing at the time.
It seems like most of the clueless dolts commenting on this story didn't bother to read the original story. Here is a quote from it...
"The armed officers swooped on Mr Nixon when a woman thought she saw him carrying a handgun and called the police."
I am not sure what is worse, Engadget's misleading headline and summary, or people that don't bother to get any facts.
Because the truth is oh so boring.
Oh right, that makes it alright then.
So instead of relying on some supposedly trained police officer monitoring the CCTV's, they rely on some woman who can't tell the difference between a handgun and a handbag 'who thought she saw him carrying a handgun'...
Actually, this is good way to seriously messup someone's life. Just follow them around and then ring up the cops and say 'I thought he had a handgun' and act hysterical. Then you can watch in satisfaction when he is arrested and dragged off for DNA swabs, fingerprinting and most probably having his a$$ next on the menu with the cellmate. Then later 'oh sorry for the inconvenience'. Try getting all that removed from your record..
Let things like this happen a thousand times, and save one tragedy. Rather than not have a couple peoples days inconvenienced and people die unnecessarily.
False dichotomy. Stupidity and overreaction don't save lives, they just terrorize civilians.
How about if we just lock up all of the stupid people who say that it's better to jail 1000 innocent people than to let one guilty person go free?
Then they'd get their way, and the rest of us would be freed from reactionary sheep.
To quote Ben Franklin
"Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither."
@Reid :
Best idea ever.
Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, 98 to 1 after 9/11 when everyone hastily voted without even reading it. So scared, they had faith in what is undeniably now the worst president in U.S. history.
Yeah, no one regrets it either!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A64173-2003Apr20¬Found=true
Worst president? When did we start talking about Jimmy Carter. Though I did like his policy on Killer Swamp Rabbits.
http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/killer_rabbit.html
Yes, by far the worst president. He isn't fit to wipe Jimmy Carter's incontinent ass.
He helped sink the republican party. But don't take my word for, stick around until November & see when we have either our first woman president, or our first black president. What we will not have is McCain.
No offense to him, but the elephants have headed off to the fabled elephant graveyard.
I have no respect for anyone who still feels compelled to defend Bush. It tells me you are a blind loyalist.
No, no, no...worst President honors go to Abraham Lincoln. If you want to talk about a preemptive war...look no further than that tyrant. There may be questions about Bush suspending habeas corpus against foreign nationals fighting against us, but at least he didn't suspend habeas corpus from Americans...
@Skeezle
Dude, I'm not defending anybody. Far from it. I just think Carter was a horrible president. Example. Just because I say green beans are worse then pineapple, does not mean I am defending pineapple, cause I think pineapple sucks as well. :-)
I subscribe to the South Park Giant Douche or Turd Sandwich theory when it comes to people running for office.
Besides
Pretty sure, Carter and both Clintons will go down as the worst Presidents in History
Wonder what would have happened if they had used the Taser on him? Would that have corrupted the data on his MP3 player?
Perhaps he could then have sued the Police and the MP3 maker for 54million BF's...
What's a BF?
It's obviously Benin Francs.
Am I the only one concerned this guy was listening to Chinese Democracy? Axl has only been working on that album since 1923.
Yeah, I think that the "on a 4GB Philips GoGear" part of the story was added by the submitter.
I thought guns were totally illegal in the UK? If so, then why were they so damned scared this guy had a gun?
Does the fact that guns are illegal in the UK mean that a lot of people just hide them now? Cause thats logically what I would assume happens.
you're right. some people do have guns, they just try to hide them from the police. these people are largely teenagers in 'gangs' in certain London districts, the level of gun crime and stabbings there is completely unbelievable.
i guess the police are just over paranoid and any sort of tip-off from an old woman is jumped on.
Engadget you just took one step closer to becoming Fox News. That person wasn't arrested for listening to a song. The police were told he had a gun. What would you do in this situation? Just stroll right up to him taking no precautions what so ever? The cops had reason to believe he had a gun and they took appropriate measures to ensure their and the publics safety. The article is extremely vague and lacking of detail of the situation but yet you slam the police anyways. Engadget, more like Foxgadget.
I assume you're a lefty. If fox news is so bad in your opinion, then they must be moderate or gasp, righty.
So if fox news is righty, and this story is about police overreaction, wouldn't they not report this story at all?
The story is written about police overreaction and a lack of professionalism and accountability. Isn't that a lefty position?
Perhaps if you could take off your lefty glasses, you would realize that not everything bad is righty (like fox news). Sometimes things are just messed up because there's no personal accountability.
In reality, the cops should have frisked the guy and then said, "Oh crap, sorry man. We got a call about a guy matching your description carrying a gun around, which is of course illegal and why we came with guns. Sorry about the confusion, and please try and enjoy the rest of your day. Sorry. Would you like a ride home, or to work, or whatever?"
Yeah, the Chinese Democracy mention was a bit of sarcasm -- it's a new form of humor that's really catching on. The long and short of this story is that this guy was arrested at gunpoint because he was holding (read: using) an MP3 player, which the cops were unable to figure out. That makes it funny and sad. What would I do in this situation? I'd try to back off on my hair-trigger reactions and use some common sense.
CHINESE DEMOCRACY STARTS ... NOW!
I dont understand. They think someone has a gun so the police pulled their weapons. OK-Maybe. But when they did not find a gun and found an mp3 player, why was he taken in, finger printed, mug shot and DNA taken?
That argument is bollocks! Anyone who read the damn thing should voted against it, it's the retards that just rubber stamp their approval on anything that sounds like it might get them votes that passed that pile of crap.
It's not because they felt pressured by the name, it's because they are twats who don'e give a shit about this country. Democrat and republican alike.
And this reply was aimed at Paul, who was replying to Dorf....god I hate the Engadget comment system at the moment. *RAGE*
Yeah, I don't buy the name thing either...
Otherwise people would come up with bad bills then just give them names like "One Puppy Per Child" or "The Free Ice Cream on Friday Act" and get everything passed.
They do.
You should read the names of some of the acts put to Congress! According to most Congresspeople, they don't get sufficient time to actually READ the bills placed before them. They sometimes have time for their staff to go over it quickly, but ultimately, they vote based on what's told to them in session, usually by the sponsors of the bill.
That's why something called "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001" can include such things as suspending habeas corpus and it gets lost in pages and pages of technical language, and ends up being passed based on its name, and the STATED intentions of the act.
Yes, Congress members lie to each other. Imagine that.
There are several members of Congress and the Senate that said they never had a chance to go over the USA PATRIOT Act before it went to a vote. They voted based on what they were TOLD, and not what was in it, because it was the immediate period after 9/11 and they (wrongly) believed that their fellow legislators were being sincere and honest about protecting their country, and it wasn't until after the act passed that they found out about all the more sinister parts of it.
Expect it to be repealed in the next eight years.
Worst thing is, now that he's even been suspected of a crime and had his DNA sampled, they won't remove his DNA sample from their database. Pretty much like treating him like a convicted criminal, not just a suspected one.
I hate this country sometimes.
My advise: if you are british always carry a can of lighterfluid and a match, if you do anything that's even slightly against the rules torch the place, they forced your hand, it's excusable.
keep this in mind next time you illegally download a movie
Allow me to be the first to say, WTF are you people talking about?" I know it's an election year in the US, and people are all lined up to take some more pot shots at the lame duck W, but why does every Engadget thread need to turn into a somebody's personal political screed, for fuck's sake? At least they didn't tase him in the balls or something. I'm just as sorry that the dude got picked up for a stupid reason, and I agree that it was bullshit, but I fail to see what that has to do with George Fucking Bush! It's like everything that happens to everyone is W's fault. "I have a lump on my left nut! GEORGE BUSH!" Get the fuck over it, and move on with your lives people.
Bitter much? :)
Not really, just tired of reading my daily tech blog and seeing all the uninformed "pundits" confirming their stupidity.
GW Bush supported Tony Blair. These cameras and armed cops came in under Blair. Therefore, this is GW's fault. (Disregarding of course, the part where these measures were actually enacted and in place before Blair became PM.)
The plot to kill the Danish cartoon artist that was uncovered yesterday is also Bush's fault. I haven't figured out how yet, but I'll let you know how when I do.
So's the RIM outage. They were trying to implement spying measures under the direction of GW. Cheney coded the hook in the RIM system, but it had a bug. That's why it went down this week.
Why does bush have an army of pre-emptive defenders on engadget? Why here? Why now? WTF
Bush enabled fascist everywhere to come out of the woodwork and do their thing, so yeah he bears responsibility for that, he's the bad apple that messed up the whole political harvest.
What I'm saying, you talking points parroting retard, is that I don't understand why everybody needs to whip out their Bush-Bashing sticks on a TECH BLOG! I have zero affinity for W, but I am also realistic enough to understand that every problem in my life doesn't have George Bush at it's center. Nobody is pre-emptively defending anything I just think it's a valid point. If you had half a brain in your head you'd look past good ol' George and look at how fucked up our political machine is on the whole in this country.
The 'tech blog' subject revolves around insane cops brandishing guns, in britain.. if you don't get how that has a socio/political link then I pity you.
Actually, I have pity for you. How it must suck to live your life peeking around corners and watching the skies for helicopters. I do in fact understand the socio-political implications of such activities as the one described. The problem is that half the time those implications are only added by those such as yourself who see conspiracy in everything. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, or MP3 player if you prefer. Blaming Bush for all the world's problems is a pretty easy thing to do, the real work comes in doing something about the problems of government, not figuring out who to blame. You want to talk about problems in our society try starting with the biggest one, finger-pointing. It doesn't matter whose fault it is, it matters who steps up and fixes it.
(V)
...meanwhile Philips is happy with all the promotion.
Chinese Democracy is the Duke Nukem Forever of the music world
Maybe it's their joke an actual chinese democracy?
Why was he arrested? Wouldn't the cops have realized their mistake after frisking him and finding only an MP3 player and not a gun? If they thought he had a firearm, what did they think happened to it? If they didn't check him, that would mean they let him get in the cruiser with his supposed gun in hand...
Because cops get a free pass on personal responsibility now, just like they do in the US.
Back off you rabid ankle biters, my little bro is a cop, and he knows I will never support stupidity, even his.
I don't see why we have to be anklebiters.
This is absolutely shocking. Or at least it would be were it from a source a little more reputable than the 'make it up as we go along' Daily Mail.
HE'S GOT A ZUNE!!!!GET DOWN!!!
So long as there is no CCTV in your homes and no listening vans, I think CCTV is not a sign of totalitarianism.
Still, it could be a foreboding.