Home Office Website Hijacked by Political Activists
Political Activists SLEEPWALKPRISON (www.sleepwalkprison.com) hijacked the UK Home Office’s Stop and Search Web site on Wednesday, replacing the front page with a YouTube video showing incidents of police brutality captured on camcorder as well as links to controversial cases involving the use of stop and search powers and a link to the group’s own website.
SLEEPWALKPRISON was able to buy the domain name (www.stopandsearch.com) which until recently housed the Home Office’s Stop and Search information website and is featured on most government published materials related to the controversial scheme at auction when the government allowed it to expire last month.
James WJ Wilson, spokesman for SLEEPWALKPRISON, said the website would be developed to provide a fair and balanced view of the success or failure of stop and search from a social perspective. He suggested the website would also be used to highlight what he called the inappropriate use of anti-terror laws to harass thousands of predominantly law abiding young men and women for no reason.
The move was widely welcomed by victims of Police harassment. A member of the
HARROW POLICE & COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE GROUP whose permission was not sought to publish his name but who had previously been a victim of a prolonged campaign of Police harassment under the Stop and Search policy said he hoped the new website would herald a new era of police accountability and praised the work of SLEEPWALKPRISON.
Jeremy Warren, a city worker, also heralded the stand against what he viewed as the big brother state. “The police are power crazed and have the full support of the law. I was recently stopped and searched whilst out for a walk in a public park with my girlfriend. The police claim we had been acting suspiciously as we strolled in the sun but as a law abiding citizen the whole experienced made me feel very unfairly treated.”
The current status of the domain name is unclear; the domain name www.stopandsearch.com was listed on domain auction websites as for sale for over £100,000 but it was not clear if this was the domain’s sale price or whether it had been re-listed.
Several large legal firms are rumoured to be interested in purchasing the name to advertise litigation services for victims of crooked stop and search practices.
The Home Office and Police were unavailable for comment.
SLEEPWALKPRISON was able to buy the domain name (www.stopandsearch.com) which until recently housed the Home Office’s Stop and Search information website and is featured on most government published materials related to the controversial scheme at auction when the government allowed it to expire last month.
James WJ Wilson, spokesman for SLEEPWALKPRISON, said the website would be developed to provide a fair and balanced view of the success or failure of stop and search from a social perspective. He suggested the website would also be used to highlight what he called the inappropriate use of anti-terror laws to harass thousands of predominantly law abiding young men and women for no reason.
The move was widely welcomed by victims of Police harassment. A member of the
HARROW POLICE & COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE GROUP whose permission was not sought to publish his name but who had previously been a victim of a prolonged campaign of Police harassment under the Stop and Search policy said he hoped the new website would herald a new era of police accountability and praised the work of SLEEPWALKPRISON.
Jeremy Warren, a city worker, also heralded the stand against what he viewed as the big brother state. “The police are power crazed and have the full support of the law. I was recently stopped and searched whilst out for a walk in a public park with my girlfriend. The police claim we had been acting suspiciously as we strolled in the sun but as a law abiding citizen the whole experienced made me feel very unfairly treated.”
The current status of the domain name is unclear; the domain name www.stopandsearch.com was listed on domain auction websites as for sale for over £100,000 but it was not clear if this was the domain’s sale price or whether it had been re-listed.
Several large legal firms are rumoured to be interested in purchasing the name to advertise litigation services for victims of crooked stop and search practices.
The Home Office and Police were unavailable for comment.
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