Once Again, For The 2012 Olympics, Police Get Special Powers To Enter Homes And Remove Signage

from the civil-liberties dept

Mon, Mar 29th 2010 9:47pm — Mike Masnick

Late last year, before the Vancouver Olympics, there was widespread concern about a special law that was passed that allowed Vancouver police the right to enter homes and remove signs that the Olympics doesn't like (specifically, "marketing" signs). That seemed to trample on basic civil rights, even as the police tried to downplay the likelihood that they would use such a tool. However, it looks like the London police have been given the exact same rights as well. An anonymous reader sent over an article about the 2012 Olympics in London, which has a section towards the end highlighting similar questionable powers given to police:

Police will have powers to enter private homes and seize posters, and will be able to stop people carrying non-sponsor items to sporting events.

This has many people questioning why the government has tossed away their civil rights in favor of the now crassly commercial Olympics.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: london, olympics

20 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2010 @ 10:01pm

link broken or was it removed?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dennis Yang (profile), 29 Mar 2010 @ 10:43pm
  
  Re:
  Oops.. good catch. The link has been fixed now.. Sorry about that!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 10:30am
  
  Re:
  this is why people need guns.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - V (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 4:33pm
    
    Re: Re:
    And this is why the government does not want you to have guns.
    
    This is scary...very very scary.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - vivaelamor (profile), 31 Mar 2010 @ 6:04am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "And this is why the government does not want you to have guns."
      
      Good ol' 'if only those British had guns' rhetoric. I'm in favour of the freedom to own firearms and I still think only a moron would bring the issue up here. Please explain how guns would solve this problem.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
sinsi (profile), 29 Mar 2010 @ 10:08pm

"will be able to stop people carrying non-sponsor items to sporting events"
Restriction of trade maybe? What about the missus with her Gucci (or Target) handbag?
Forget Big Brother, look out for Big Business. Lucky that the Olympics(TM) are becoming irrelevant then.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
mike allen (profile), 29 Mar 2010 @ 11:55pm

pity
I dont live in London id put posters all over the house. If the police came and took them down more would be up the next day and every day just to piss them off.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
V, 30 Mar 2010 @ 12:02am

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Peet McKimmie (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 12:15am

"Marketing" signs
So "non-marketing" signs, such as "All advertisers are liars" would be OK, then?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 1:37am

Hitler would have been proud.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Blatant Coward (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 2:03am

Meanwhile in 1936...
I'm sorry Herr Himmler, due to the agreement with the IOC we will have to fine each of your troops using the "Greco-Roman single hand" salute 300 marks as it is a trademark held by the IOC, and yourself 300 marks per troop you returned the salute to. That comes to hmmm... carry the eight, add the six... Wow, the IOC might be able to have you hanged for this!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DiFiasco, 30 Mar 2010 @ 2:28am

Anyone surprised?
Unelected Prime Minister? -Check.
Sweeping Police Powers to hold people for no reason? -Check.
Local Law Enforcement with a bad track record? -Check.
Absent of any Constitution of Statutory Rights? -Check.
Welcome to Orwell's Britain, folks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:50am
  
  Re:
  Don't forget about the cameras!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Del Boy, 30 Mar 2010 @ 2:43am

Yeah!!
Civil rights versus big business. Hmm we know who should win this one - but our greedy dumb politicians probably know better than us. After all when have they ever let us down in the past?. There is only 1 line in the British constitution & that is - Bend over & take it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 5:24am

The olympics are the most irrelevant major sporting event on earth now. There are two kinds of olympic atheletes now: professionals and amateurs who do nothing but compete year-round due to corporate sponsorship deals. Up until the 1960s the olympics were one of the very few times that the world's best atheletes competed against each other, but now they compete against each other every week or two. During the 70s and 80s they were a monument to the us vs them cold-war politics. Now they're just a bloated dead wooly mammoth gussied up in bright shiny corporate colors.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
AC, 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:32am

oh well
another Olympics I won't be watching. Vote with your wallet people. Don't watch or buy products endorsing or endorsed by the Olympics. Saddly our money seems to be the only voice we have anymore.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pixelation, 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:27am

non-sponsor items
What the hell does that mean exactly?

Have a bunch of women wear non-sponsor shirts to events.

"I'm sorry ladies, you will all need to remove your non-sponsor items before entering." Woohoo!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
known coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 8:49am

i wonder if this is just a part
... of the IOC's contract for the olympic cities?

You know in order to win the olympics you must sign over all your IP enforcement to us, whether it is legal in the host country or not.

While generally he who posts hitler first loses, In this case it sort of makes sense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avery_Brundage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
btr1701 (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 9:28pm

Constitution
This keeps happening in countries without a strong 4th Amendment-style law or constitution in place. It’ll be interesting to see what happens the next time the Olympics are held in the USA and the IOC demands that the government empower the police to enter private homes with no warrant in order to enforce their private sponsorship deals.

IOC: "Yes, we know that violates the supreme law of your land and 200+ years of constitutional jurisprudence, but this is Olympic sponsorship we're talking about here. Nothing is more important than that!"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Daniel Dwase, 7 Apr 2010 @ 6:47am

Freedom to the people
That's a real gimmick. How can the police be allowed to private homes just because we are using 2012 olympics slogan. where is democracy, people?

This country is going backwards in my opinion. Freedom to the people.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]