Re: @John G Imrie
However, the laws that are intended to affect only those "nasty evil" people have unintended consequences, for example, to name two:
• teenagers, who end up on the sex offenders register, for texting photos of themselves to a consenting partner
• people taking part in perfectly legal sexual activities, who have been prosecuted under the extreme porn law, for having photos of those activities
Not to mention MPs who end up on lists of "Domestic Extremists" such as Caroline Lucas; the requirements placed on some jobless people are now so onerous that they end up sanctioned very easily, and what is a sanction if not a clear suggestion that they've not been fulfilling their side of the bargain, and so are trying to get something to which they're not entitled?
While not all those things are necessarily criminal, we have certainly seen a demonisation of many groups, and a tightening of rules, which means that many actions now attract a far harsher penalty, whether criminal or not, than in the past.
When politicians talk about benefit sanctions, they talk of fraud, and no one imagines that - to pick a simple example - someone will be sanctioned for not attending a meeting at the job centre because it clashed with job interview.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
