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selection and the systematic search of data bases

thomas meyer-falk | 30.12.2001 02:31

selection and the systematic search of data bases

Selection and the systematic search of data bases called
"Rasterfahndung"
after September 11th

In the German language there are certain terms with a negativ
connotation.
"Selection" is one of them. In the Nazi empire from 1933 to 1945, for
instance, the medical doctor, Mengele, made a "selection" at the ramp
of the
concentration camp Auschwitz. He separated people into several groups.
One
group consisted of people who were to be killed immediately, another
one
with people who were "allowed" to live on for some time, yet another
group
was made up of people destined to become victims of his "experiments".
Today
selections are taking place again!

In the context of the so-called "Rasterfahndung", the systematic search
of
certain data bases, e. g. at registration offices and universities, the
local court of Düsseldorf gave certain "criteria for the selection of
people": male, birth date between October 1st, 1960, and October 1st,
1983,
birth name, first name, etc.

The author of this small article was registered at a comprehensive
university in the district of this court from 1993 to 1998, so he
complained
against the decision of the court, because in his opinion his data was
not
the business of the police and secret service offices. According to the
decision, all universities were forced to hand out their data on all
current
and former students who were born between 1960 and 1983.

Instead of objectively contradicting the political arguments of the
complainer, who argued, for example, that there was no real danger
justifying this spying on data in the least, and that the Pentagon and
the
WTC had been attacked, not the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal
court of Düsseldorf [a court on a higher level than the local court]
followed the absurd "arguments" given by the police president (decision
made
on October 30th, AZ 25T 874/01). On page 4 of the decision it says:

"There is a current danger for the security of the State and the
federal
states. A danger is current when the damaging event has already
started, or
when the disturbance will start with an almost certain probability in
the
near future. This assumption is justified due to the attacks of
September
11th and the reactions to this event. This is obvious already due to
the
fact that the German government has repeatedly announced unlimited
solidarity, including military means, with the steps taken by the
United
States."

In this case the collection of data was allowed and a complaint against
it
denied without giving even a small hint how this measure should help to
find
alleged "sleepers". On the contrary - all students, non-Germans and
Germans,
are put under a general suspicion; the fact of having been student is
already enough to be selected!

Many decades ago Orwell had published his vision in the novel "1984" -
the
reality of today is orientated along those lines. If you behave
unconspicuously, you are under suspicion - and if you attract
attention, you
are under suspicion anyway. The police state is not at the door - it is
right in our homes!

No to the police state! No to observance! No to the "Rasterfahndung"!
For a free and just world! Viva la Anarchie!

Thomas Meyer-Falk, z.Zt. JVA -Zelle 3117,
Schönbornstraße 32, D-76646 Bruchsal, Germany

thomas meyer-falk