Squatters to face six months in prison as laws giving them rights are scrapped from tomorrow

By Daniel Martin
31 August 2012

Squatters’ rights will be scrapped from tomorrow, and a new law will mean those who invade private homes face six months in jail.

Until now, police could not evict squatters as soon as they moved in, so a homeowner’s main option to get them out was through a civil court order – which could be time consuming, expensive and stressful.

The introduction of the criminal offence of squatting, which carries a prison sentence, a £5,000 fine or both, follows a Government consultation last summer and means police can arrest squatters immediately.

Housing minister Grant Shapps said: ‘No longer will there be so-called "squatters’ rights".

'We're tipping the scales of justice back in favour of the homeowner and making the law crystal clear: entering a property with the intention of squatting will be a criminal offence.

Justice minister Crispin Blunt said: 'For too long, squatters have had the justice system on the run and have caused homeowners untold misery in eviction, repair and clean-up costs. Not anymore.

'Hard-working homeowners need and deserve a justice system where their rights come first - this new offence will ensure the police and other agencies can take quick and decisive action to deal with the misery of squatting.'

Chief Constable Phil Gormley, from the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: 'Police can now act immediately and remove squatters directly from properties in line with the new legislation and ensure people's homes are protected.'

The new offence will protect homeowners or legitimate tenants who have been excluded from their homes.

It will also protect those who own residential buildings that they don't live in, such as landlords, local authorities or second home owners.

Previously, their only option was to seek a civil court order to regain possession of their properties, which could be time consuming, expensive and stressful.

But homeless charity Crisis said the new law would criminalise vulnerable people, leaving them in prison or facing a fine they cannot pay.

'It also misses the point,' said Leslie Morphy, the charity's chief executive.

'There was already legal provision that police and councils could, and should, have used to remove individuals in the rare instances of squatting in someone's home.

'And the new law also applies to empty homes - of which there are 720,000 in England alone, including many that are dilapidated and abandoned - criminalising homeless people when they are just trying to find a place off the streets.'

She went on: 'It will do nothing to address the underlying reasons why vulnerable people squat in the first place - their homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.

'Ultimately the Government needs to tackle why homeless people squat in the first place by helping not punishing them.'

Mr Shapps also launched a clampdown on rogue landlords to bring an end to 'suburban shanty towns' that trap vulnerable people in dangerous living conditions.

He launched new guidance for councils making clear the wide range of powers at their disposal shut down so-called 'beds in sheds' that blight neigbourhoods.

[ed. About time...]

Scientists Successfully ‘Hack’ Brain To Obtain Private Data

By Peter V. Milo
August 25, 2012

BERKELEY, Calif. (CBS Seattle) – It sounds like something out of the movie “Johnny Mnemonic,” but scientists have successfully been able to “hack” a brain with a device that’s easily available on the open market.

Researchers from the University of California and University of Oxford in Geneva figured out a way to pluck sensitive information from a person’s head, such as PIN numbers and bank information.

The scientists took an off-the-shelf Emotiv brain-computer interface, a device that costs around $299, which allows users to interact with their computers by thought.

The scientists then sat their subjects in front of a computer screen and showed them images of banks, people, and PIN numbers. They then tracked the readings coming off of the brain, specifically the P300 signal.

The P300 signal is typically given off when a person recognizes something meaningful, such as someone or something they interact with on a regular basis.

Scientists that conducted the experiment found they could reduce the randomness of the images by 15 to 40 percent, giving them a better chance of guessing the correct answer.

Another interesting facet about the experiments is how the P300 signal could be read for lie detection.

In the paper that the scientists released, they state that “the P300 can be used as a discriminative feature in detecting whether or not the relevant information is stored in the subject’s memory.

“For this reason, a GKT based on the P300 has a promising use within interrogation protocols that enable detection of potential criminal details held by the suspect,” the researchers said.

However, scientists say this way of lie detection is “vulnerable to specific countermeasures,” but not as many compared to a traditional lie detector.

This could only be the beginning of a new form of fraud. Scientists say that a person with their guard lowered could be “easily engaged into ‘mind games’ that camouflage the interrogation of the user and make them more cooperative.”

Also, much like other household electronics, “the ever increasing quality of devices, success rates of attacks will likely improve.”