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.

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Filed Under: london, olympics

20 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2010 @ 10:01pm

link broken or was it removed?
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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.
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Dennis Yang (profile), 29 Mar 2010 @ 10:43pm

Re:
Oops.. good catch. The link has been fixed now.. Sorry about that!
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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.
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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.
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Peet McKimmie (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 12:15am

"Marketing" signs
So "non-marketing" signs, such as "All advertisers are liars" would be OK, then?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 1:37am

Hitler would have been proud.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:50am

Re:
Don't forget about the cameras!
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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!
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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
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 10:30am

Re:
this is why people need guns.
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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.
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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!"
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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.
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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.
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