A MOTHER IS CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING AFTER RETURNING A RUNAWAY DAUGHTER TO CARE

Why are police so eager and aggressive in their co-operation with social workers?

Another mother and child have been torn apart in the name of the Children Act Photo: ALAMY

By Christopher Booker 28 Jul 2012

Not least of the many disturbing features of the epidemic of child-snatching by social services, which is now breaking all records, is the extraordinarily compliant co-operation given by the police.

Two weeks ago, an eight-year-old girl was wandering the streets “somewhere In London”, having run away from her care home for the fourth time. Her parents having separated, for seven years she had lived happily with her mother. But when it was suggested that she should see her father again, she was overheard at school saying that he had once punched her in the head. This was reported to the social workers, who put her in a foster home, on the all-too-familiar grounds that she faced “the potential risk of emotional harm” if she stayed with her mother, who had never harmed her in any way.

In the foster home, desperate to be reunited with her mother, she was so rebellious that she was put in a care home, where she was relentlessly bullied and abused by older inmates. A photographic record shows many injuries, including a 10in burn from a kettle.

When she escaped for the fourth time, she was spotted in the street late in the evening by a friend of the family, who called her mother. The mother rushed to her side and rang the police to say she would look after her distraught daughter at a friend’s house overnight and return her next day to the care home. At 4am, neighbours near the mother’s house were woken by the sound of nine policemen smashing down the door of the family home, searching in vain for the girl.

When the mother returned her to the care home later that day, as promised, social workers were alerted. The police arrived to arrest her, held her in custody for 10 hours, then charged her with trying to kidnap her daughter. Released on bail, she faces trial in October.

The girl was then moved to a new foster home in the area where her mother lives. On Thursday, the mother happened to see her daughter in the street, looking unkempt and miserable, accompanied by the new foster carer. While the mother attempted to comfort her desperate daughter, the carer rang social workers on her mobile and told the mother she must leave the scene and not contact her daughter again.
All this took place in the name of the Children Act, which, as judges repeatedly like to intone, makes the interests of the child paramount. As I have observed before, were Dickens living today he might well make the workings of our “child protection” system the theme of one of his most searing novels.
But again, why are the police so unquestioning and so aggressive in the support they give to this system? It is a mystery for which I have so far been given no rational explanation.
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LONDON RIOTS: POLICE COULD GET POWERS OVER SOCIAL MEDIA

Users of social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), could see their access to services blocked if they are “plotting violence, disorder and criminality”, David Cameron told MPs.

Youths involved in riots have used social media to organise their campaign of violence Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor 11 Aug 2011

The Prime Minister said that “everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.”

He said that he has asked the police if they need new powers, and that Government is “working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services".

The Home Secretary later told Parliament that she will convene a meeting with the police and representatives from the social media industries to to discuss how to improve the technological and related legal capability of the police. They will discuss "whether and how we should be able to stop people communicating via these websites and services", she said.

David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, had called for BBM to be suspended so that rioters, many of whom were using the free service, would be prevented from planning further attacks.

The police have also made a number of arrests after people made statements on Facebook that were allegedly inciting illegal behaviour.

A No 10 source said that the Government would examine the technical and moral questions of blocking users’ access to a service, as well as looking at whether police powers had kept pace with modern technology.

The Government is thought to be looking at how to block individual users, rather than shutting down entire services.

Earlier in the week, a top twitter topic in London was “#blockbbm”, but after the Prime Minister’s statement Labour MP Tom Watson called the suggestion “Luddite”.

Users of Twitter claimed the positive aspects of the service, such as to organise clean-up campaigns after the riots, demonstrated that the technology itself was neutral.

'A-TEAM' OF CYBER SLEUTHS 'REVEAL MOLE IN WIKILEAKS AFGHAN REVELATIONS'

REPOST. Originally posted within The Mikiverse, August 3, 2010.

A self-described "A-Team" of volunteer cyber sleuths has disclosed how it helped identify the alleged Wikileaks whistleblower.

By Tom Leonard in New York 02 Aug 2010

Bradley Manning on a gay pride march.

Vigilant, an alliance of some 600 volunteers, has been scouring internet traffic for 14 years and passing information to the US federal authorities, said its director, Chet Uber.

Speaking at DefCon, a computer hacking convention in Las Vegas, Mr Uber said the group monitored 12 regional internet service providers for terrorists, drug cartels and organised crime.

He said the Florida-based group had encouraged one of its members, Adrian Lamo, to inform the authorities about Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst who allegedly provided the Wikileaks site with classified military information.

Mr Lamo, a researcher, had struck up an online friendship with Mr Manning and later identified him as the source of a Wikileaks video showing the US military killing Iraqi civilians.

Mr Uber said Mr Lamo had been reluctant to expose his friend so the Vigilant chief arranged for him to meet federal agencies.

"I'm the one who called the US government. [Adrian] did a patriotic thing. He sees all kinds of hacks and he was seriously worried about people dying," he told Forbes.

Despite its unofficial status, experts say Vigilant is no amateur crime-fighting outfit.

Its members reportedly include the ex-security chief for the New York Stock Exchange and former technology officials at the National Security Agency and the FBI.

"We do things the government can't. This was never supposed to have been a public thing," said Mr Uber, who was at DefCon to recruit more hackers.

Vigilant also claims to have "collection officers" in 22 countries that gather intelligence or coordinate networks in person.

"We go into bars, look for lists of bad actors, get tips from people." said Mr Uber.

"But a significant amount of our intelligence comes from our monitoring the internet. We are looking at everything on websites, and websites are public."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7922714/A-Team-of-cyber-sleuths-reveal-mole-in-Wikileaks-Afghan-revelations.html