Breaking the Law

By sizemore Last edited 206 months ago

Last Updated 16 February 2007

Breaking the Law
glorifying_terrorism.jpg

This looks like a fun (and illegal) read:

Glorifying Terrorism is a science fiction anthology. With an introduction by Andrew McKie of the Daily Telegraph, it features contributions by top UK SF writers Ian Watson, Gwyneth Jones, Ken MacLeod, and Charles Stross. The anthology highlights the flaws in recent UK government legislation that criminalizes ‘encouragement of terrorism’.

The 2006 Terrorism Act makes it a criminal offence to incite or encourage others to commit acts of terrorism. Section 1 of the Act specifically targets the ‘glorification of terrorism’, understood to be ‘encouraging the emulation of terrorism’.

The authors and the editor of this anthology believe that the Act is bad law. Legislation already exists which makes it an offence directly to incite violence. Furthermore, the generalized wording of certain subsections of the 2006 Act amounts to an unjustified intrusion into the freedom of expression.

Loads of great writers in there, but we love Charlie Stross. His Atrocity Archives is one of our all time favorite reads - think Michael Cain's Harry Palmer, overworked and underpaid, working for a government department that deals with HP Lovecraft's Elder Gods. Great stuff.

You can read Charlie's take on the book here.