David Davis' Resignation and fight over civil liberty

[Roland Perry]

In article <010401c8cd6a$7a2e6ef0$c77fa8c0@Jinja>, James Firth 
<james2@jfirth.net> writes
>Not particularly sensitive but I should imagine a cause of stress and worry
>to those under suspicion, and the case of Robert Del Naja, a musician
>wrongly accused of viewing child pornography in February 2003.  Although the
>charges were dropped a month later, Del Naja was forced to cancel a tour of
>New Zealand and later described the pressure not only of awaiting the
>outcome of the investigation but also the very public nature of the charges,
>which were widely reported, more so than his clearance.  He was also forced
>to publically admit to viewing "adult" material in an attempt to clear his
>name, causing embarrassment to his family. (The same company used to process
>his subscription to legal pornography was also processing illegal
>pornography at the time).
>
>Even 28 days can be a long time, especially with your computers impounded
>and public suspicion hanging over you.

There are plenty of stories of people whose things were impounded as 
evidence, and not returned for years. This discussion about 
detention-without-charge is entirely orthogonal to that. Similarly, 
being under suspicion for a crime doesn't stop when they let you out 
after 1|3|7|28|42 days, the length of time is completely irrelevant, 
apart from the disruption to normal life that it obviously causes.
-- 
Roland Perry