Really tired of cunts like Moody's and Standard & Poor's, and their self fulfilling analyses of worth.

They'll have spent the past few weeks hedging their own shit against Spanish banks for defo.

Yeah, it's called Bankia and the logo is in fact a bear, as the bear is the symbol of Madrid. It was Caja Madrid but then it became a conglomerate of various savings banks and they changed the name. My money is in there and now some cunting ratings agency is deciding that I may lose it.

Unfortunately there's no word even vaguely similar to scorchio in Spanish.

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

There would, as stipulated, have to be sufficient controls on when such powers could be used by the police, so I doubt you would have anything to worry about, cockbeard.

According to that article, there's about the same amount of safeguarding as there is in stop and search i.e. a reasonable suspicion. Which pretty much amounts to they can do it if they feel like it. 

Seeing as they have to bring someone into the station to do it at the moment, I can't see it being too bad. They'll only bother with the paperwork that involves if the person genuinely deserves it, or you act like enough of a prick to piss them off (most of the time). 

But if they get it on a mobile terminal then they'll use it left, right and centre just as a matter of course. 

The rest of your post seems to advocate never-ending escalation ahead of legislative reform which is stoopids.

The main issue is that they'll keep everything they get whether someone is charged or not, which is dodgy as fuck.

They already have if your definition of hard drugs includes the pharmaceuticals industry (who 'invented' heroin and cocaine).

Assuming we're talking about illegal drugs, then you could in theory regulate supply, but unless it's a free for all (which would be too unpopular to clear legislation) then you'd still have an illegal supply problem, just as you do now with legal drugs.

Which reminds me, do we know what the Governmentally Decreed Bland Packaging for ciggies is likely to look like yet? I'm hoping it riffs on Repo Man.

Like I said, if you try to decriminalise illegal drugs, madness will ensue.

Holland and Portugal.

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

The only way to keep dealers off the streets and fight the war on drugs - albeit a never-ending war - is to continue to hunt them down and prosecute them. Speeding up the process of mobile phone data retrieval by the authorities could be a huge step forwards in this respect.

Have you watched The Wire? If you have, you weren't paying attention.

Second to this, the phone device is to prevent network traffic when a phone is turned on for forensic examination. Examination takes ages. The APCO guidelines state network activity should not take place as this compromises the evidence. There are other factors also.

I have placed a copy of the guidelines here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2686243/ACPO_guidelines_computer_evidence.pdf should anyone want to access them.

You should note that many coppers don't adhere to the 4 principles of computer evidence. Also bobbies on the street aren't trained concerning these principles unless they have worked in the digital crimes unit.

This isn't going to make much of a change to anything. If a bobby wants to read your phonebook he can but to take an image of your phone data he's going to need to do it with lab equipment. The equipment they have here is simply to ensure they can do more with evidence from phones, now they are usually all smart they need to prevent changes network activity could cause to the evidence.

Guys we need to be very careful citing the fucking Wire as much beyond, y'know, being a cop drama.

@brooks
Hastily-assembled thoughts on the subject (v busy right now)
...I don't believe it will do anything to stop those who are currently selling drugs illegally from continuing to do so, so it falls at the first hurdle.
Also, you will have a government who, by regulating the legal sale of class A substances, is effectively condoning their use (which is an indefensible position I think), despite the fact that they are extremely dangerous mind-altering substances that can and will cause people to behave otherwise in accordance with acceptable societal norms. Whilst there are significant problems associated with alcohol abuse, the societal problems that we already have from illegal substance abuse are far more acute, though currently less prevalent.

That's only the tip of the iceberg though - whatever direction you look in, there's a minefield of potential clusterfucks associated with making stuff like this legal.

Drugs won't be made legal because then you'll grow what you want at home from first generation seeds, (which you may or may not have in advance) and keep a stack of second generation seeds.

Where's the tax in that?

Booyah.

You can't grow acid, mdma, speed, etc from seeds.

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

@brooks Hastily-assembled thoughts on the subject (v busy right now) ...I don't believe it will do anything to stop those who are currently selling drugs illegally from continuing to do so, so it falls at the first hurdle. 

Would this phone thing stop people selling drugs illegally? Nope. And for my money, it would. Although fags and booze have a black market, its dwarfed by the legit market. 

Also, you will have a government who, by regulating the legal sale of class A substances, is effectively condoning their use (which is an indefensible position I think), despite the fact that they are extremely dangerous mind-altering substances that can and will cause people to behave otherwise in accordance with acceptable societal norms.

Govt. makes money from speeding, sale of stolen goods etc. They also make money from booze and fags while at the same time spending money to 'warn people of the dangers.' 

Whilst there are significant problems associated with alcohol abuse, the societal problems that we already have from illegal substance abuse are far more acute, though currently less prevalent.

Part of the problem is due to their being pushed underground. And you'd need stats here for something as contentious as saying drug problems are worse / would be worse than the problems you get with alcohol. I've never had someone start on me because they were stoned. 

Btw decriminalisation is not the same as making something legal.