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A number of police officers were injured at the scene in Birmingham. PA Images

British gang film that was pulled from screens after violence at screening to return to cinemas

Vue had originally pulled showings of Blue Story, and said there had been 25 “significant incidents”.

THE FILM BLUE Story will return to UK cinema screens following a backlash about it being pulled, Vue Cinemas’ chief executive has announced, as he insisted race was never part of the equation.

The gang story was withdrawn from Vue after seven police officers were injured in a disturbance at Star City in Birmingham on Saturday, where there were reports of youths with machetes.

However, director Andrew Onwubolu told BBC Breakfast there was “no connection” between the Birmingham brawl and his movie, and questioned whether there were “hidden reasons”.

It has also been suggested that the decision to cancel the screenings was racially motivated.

Tim Richards, founder and chief executive of Vue International, told the PA news agency they “agonised” over the decision to pull the film, but had to prioritise the safety of staff and customers after 25 incidents at 16 cinemas.

He said a number of the incidents took place on Friday.

‘Very, very disturbing’

“Birmingham was part of our decision, but just a part of it,” he said.

Richards went on: “I have spent 20 years of my life supporting and promoting diversity and British and independent film.

“To call me personally or corporately racist is very, very disturbing and with no merit at all.

“Racism does not enter into the equation at all. Never has. It’s the opposite.”

TheJournal.ie / YouTube

Richards said he knew Blue Story was “an important movie” and that he had never wanted to withdraw it.

He said that between Vue, the producers, Paramount and community groups, there was now “a game plan” to reinstate the film before the weekend.

“That’s really our belief in the film and the message that the movie has,” he said.

“We’ve listened to the community and we know that this is an important movie for people to see.”

‘Review of security’

Richards also said the discussion was not about Vue or the film.

He said: “The whole discussion is about why are teenagers leaving their homes with machetes, with knives, when they go out.

That’s what the discussion is about. That’s a broader discussion, and not a movie industry discussion, it’s a social discussion in Britain.

Vue said in a statement: “We were disappointed to have to make the decision to remove Blue Story from our screens earlier this week, a decision to protect our customers and staff following major incidents connected with the film at 16 of our cinemas all across the country.

“We said at the time that this is a fantastic film and one with a very powerful message – that is why we wanted to show this film.

“We want to do that while ensuring, above all else, the safety of our customers and colleagues.

“We also understand the powerful reaction to our decision and we have spoken with interested parties, including the film producers, Paramount, our security advisers and most importantly our own operational teams who manage our cinemas on a day-to-day basis.

“Following an ongoing review of security to protect the safety of our staff and customers we hope to be showing the film from this weekend, with additional security arrangements in our cinemas, to ensure everyone can enjoy the film in comfort and safety.”

The company said that during the first 24 hours of screenings, Vue recorded 25 incidents, which they said were significant and directly related, in 16 cinemas.

These were documented with CCTV footage, police call logs, and detailed incident reports to security or medical authorities, and in a dozen of those incidents, the police had to be called.

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    Mute Niall Keady
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:05 PM

    can I say “I am on a train to Killbarack”

    272
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    Mute Billygoatmuff
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:59 PM

    ……and your having the craic!

    56
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    Mute Pete Glavey
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 12:59 AM

    +10000

    7
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    Mute Joe Conway
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 6:21 PM

    You’re going to Kill Barack?
    Reminds me of a story my father told me years ago about a man from his village who was arrested by the black and tans because when he was stopped and asked where he was coming from and going to, he said ‘I’ve been to Killpatrick and I’m off to Killmore’
    Even if its not true it makes a good story!

    10
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    Mute damien chaney
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:42 PM

    DHS, do they not sell sofas?

    120
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    Mute Gerard Murphy
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:46 PM

    Have no doubt, Fascism is alive and well, in the land of ‘The Free’

    118
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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:59 PM

    *scratches America off list of places to go*

    Would it not save a lot of time, money and paperwork if they just automated the system to tweet the people they’d determined to be a threat and said:

    “Dear tweeter, you are now on our watch list, please don’t bother coming to America as you will be questioned, jailed & subsequently deported”

    -DHS.

    114
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    Mute Max Power
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 6:11 PM

    Don’t forget to add “at your own expense.” to the end of that!

    4
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    Mute Conor Dwyer
    Favourite Conor Dwyer
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:49 PM

    I’m too afraid to tell you about my experience of the aforementioned country and its border control.
    Pity The Journal requires you to log on via facebook or twitter. Ugh.

    112
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    Mute Alan Pike
    Favourite Alan Pike
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:16 PM

    Im pretty sure if terrorists are going to bomb the shit out of america, they arn’t going to put it up on facebook or twitter ffs. does that mean im barred from America now with that sentence?

    95
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    Mute Neil McRedmond
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:38 PM

    Yup,your done mate..extradition order on the way!!!!

    24
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    Mute Ardo Ci
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:41 PM

    Yes

    6
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    Mute Pete Glavey
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 1:00 AM

    Game over !

    5
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    Mute John Stevenson
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:56 PM

    America should officially burn their constitution, its is completely meaningless. Free speech does not exist there anymore. Ireland is a million times more free than the US and we dont go on about it all the time. This is a joke. I have made comments about america in the past, hope im put in jail the next time i try to go their.

    95
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    Mute jackass ireland
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 8:40 AM

    The land of the free would make the old German Stasi jealous.

    18
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    Mute Brian Daly
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:07 PM

    You’ve got to ask. a) why are they wasting their time monitoring a service that has only 100m users worldwide? and b) if they were that much of a threat, how were they allowed board a flight and arrive in the US of A? Doesn’t add up.

    82
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    Mute Ann Reddin
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:36 PM

    sorry accidentally gave you a thumbs down Brian, giving you a big green thumb up

    16
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    Mute Sheila Walshe-Blackmore
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:10 PM

    What bothers me is that this situation concerned one Irish Citizen and who the hell gave the US the right to monitor social network traffic in other countries. Last time I checked we were the Republic of Ireland. Never was pushed about visiting the States, and as someone posted earlier “scratches America off list of places to go”.

    75
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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:35 PM

    public information, it’s a blog site.

    4
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    Mute Oisín O'Neill
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    Feb 5th 2012, 10:52 AM

    It’s also hosted in the USA I believe (subject to correction).

    1
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    Mute jimbo
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:37 PM

    i hate coca cola lol.. so im of to shoot the statue of liberty in america,then i will relax and enjoy a pack of tayto while i tweet the DHS.

    71
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    Mute Dars K_Unofficial
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:11 PM

    Will Ferrell is getting carted off to a cell as we speak haha

    35
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    Mute Imran Ali
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    Feb 1st 2012, 8:42 PM

    If only Twitter and Facebook was around when the 9/11 gang were in action.

    65
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    Mute Daniel Bain
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    Feb 14th 2012, 5:07 PM

    It’s too bad that it wouldn’t have worked. But then the CIA would only have their own people to follow if they were watching media sites like that.

    1
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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:04 PM

    lol, if you try tweet the article from the mail online link you put in there it has the words “Destroy America” in the tweet.

    41
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    Mute Christine Downey
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:56 PM

    “forced to buy new flights back to Europe” ??? Go to be ****ed!! You not even going to deport me?? You expect me to pay my own way home?? No way José!

    35
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    Mute gingerman
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:36 PM

    Welcome to the fourth reich. It must be destroyed

    31
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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:13 PM

    Bet they wish they hadn’t given twitter or Facebook their real names :)

    Makes no difference to me either way.. I won’t give social networking sites my personal details and I have no desire to ever enter Big Brothers lair..

    31
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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:24 PM

    I sure as hell do. :-D
    didn’t think things were THAT bad, time to go off the radar now perhaps?

    Too little too late no doubt!

    16
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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:43 PM

    Ah.. I was advised not to when I was setting up my MySpace account, back before Facebook and Twitter came on the scene..
    It seemed a bit paranoid at the time, but then I just used my nickname which my friends call me anyway.. But with twitter I don’t even use that – simply because I use it for accessing more public forums like this.. Like I explained to someone earlier – when it comes to expressing an opionion online it’s better to be mindful of who may be looking at it..

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    Mute Daniel Bohan
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:23 PM

    Hi Shanti – makes no odds if you give your real name; the chances are your man updated twitter on his phone, so the tweet was tied to a phone number. The DHS have access to all UK Phone Databases, so it’s very simple to track the accused! That’s why I still use a “dumb phone”.

    1
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    Mute Lisa Kiely
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    Feb 1st 2012, 9:52 PM

    Well that’s you banned from Tayto Land then….

    29
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    Mute Mark John O'Reardon
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:30 PM

    The American People are amongst the nicest people on the planet and I really doubt that anybody would want to do them any harm. The International Military Industrial Complex which wages war all over the world and claims to be American is a totally different issue. Long live the American dream and may it be resuscitated sometime soon

    29
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    Mute Carol Oliver Power
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    Feb 1st 2012, 11:00 PM

    Lickarse!! lol

    46
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    Mute Paul Quigley
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 12:00 AM

    It’s a great country Mark. Love it there. Though the people who make the decisions about its security (and military) often do it harm.

    28
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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 12:03 AM

    As a wise old man once said;

    “That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
    ― George Carlin

    68
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    Mute jackass ireland
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 11:35 PM

    Well Mark, you pretty much nailed it. As an American and a former military man, I can tell you it’s gone out of control. The Military Industrial complex as you mentioned, does exist in a verifiable form. I would suggest all those people who gave thumbs down, and even those who didn’t, to have a nice little read of “Confessions of an economic hit man” by John Perkins. I would say more than a few people would get the shock of their life and indeed see the exact same scenarios playing out in Dublin right now.

    5
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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Feb 3rd 2012, 1:01 AM

    It’s a bit bloomin scary alright Jackass! Did you see that video with Rick Santorum pretty much admitting the US assassinated that scientist in Iran? He went on to say any scientist thinking of working in Iran (he had presumed at the start of the speech that Iran is indeed working on weapons, prior to the results of the UN assessment) should be scared because they’ve done it, even to American citizens..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8uNcIEvGdo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    Scary stuff if you ask me. I worry for those who live in the US.

    2
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    Mute Brian Daly
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:34 PM

    Sorry Mr. Pike, We detected “bomb” “Shit” and “America”. Can you please contact your local embassy and arrange to be taken in. Alternatively we can have a flight waiting for you in Shannon. White business jet, no tail number.

    28
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    Mute Alan Pike
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:54 PM

    thats you f*cked now aswell!!

    21
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    Mute Lorcan Garrett
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    Feb 1st 2012, 11:11 PM

    Terrorist code: “Destroy” = “Cuddle”, “United States” = “Bunny Rabbit”.

    So much for all the money and man-hours the DHS put into to this nonsense. Although I suspect it’s more about spying on people rather than catching the boogieman. I wonder what they’ll do if ACTA’s fully implemented!?

    23
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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:37 PM

    lol

    2
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    Mute William H.A. William
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 12:48 AM

    there is an old 18th “Irish bull” about the Irishman who was arrested after saying thar he had just come from killmany and was on his way to killmore. they probably hung the poor bastard.

    21
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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 1:06 AM

    Hope his home address wasn’t Kill, Co Kildare!!

    12
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    Mute James Gaffney
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 12:26 AM

    Excellent, if unnerving, article, Paul.

    People should target Discover America, the US Tourist board, with requests that their colleagues in Homeland Security exercise a bit of cop on. Maybe set up a petition/boycott.

    After all, it can’t make their job of attracting tourists to the US any easier when jobsworths are behaving like those ones in LAX.

    20
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    Mute Anne Marie O'Beirne
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:27 PM

    I think that’s what you call hyper-vigilence gone wrong. I have vivid memories of having a Panic attack in Shannon airport. In hindsight, was it because I didn’t approve of the war in Iraq (which should never have happened) or was it an admin error? I will probably never know.

    19
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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 1:13 AM

    Until you attacked the people I was with you. There’s lots of very smart, very decent people in the states – the same percentage as you would find here, just on a much larger scale.. Don’t tar them all with the same brush, there’s poorly educated people everywhere..

    The cops, government, black ops, patriot act, NDAA, PICPA (not sure if I have the acronym in the correct order there), Mandatory medications, blatant corporate fraud, lobbying and war mongering is what puts me off the country too.

    19
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    Mute Emma Hurley
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    Feb 1st 2012, 11:47 PM

    “no decision making human entered the process” not possible some idiot jailed them, questioned them… the fact that they were stupid doesn’t detract from the fact that they were human ( note how I left American out of that sentence in case they got their hands on this…!

    15
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    Mute Derek Durkin
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 1:31 AM

    The fall of the American Empire is happening before our eyes. Rampant greed brings down all empires. About time too.

    14
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    Mute Brendan Kelly
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:05 PM

    US customs are tough but after 9/11 that is understandable. The guy was just silly and I bet he regrets it now! People should remember what they say can be taken the wrong way and it’s not wise to post it online.

    11
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    Mute Continent Simian
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    Feb 1st 2012, 10:30 PM

    No, people should speak freely.

    Living in fear that somebody somewhere could misinterpret you and punish you for it is not a good solution.

    101
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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:34 PM

    silly for using slang?
    everyone uses slang every day!

    11
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    Mute Oisín O'Neill
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    Feb 5th 2012, 10:50 AM

    What does customs have to do with anything? The article is about DHS and immigration.

    1
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    Mute Henry Sanner
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:02 AM

    remember america: Just because you are paranoid it doesnt mean they are not after you! ;p
    now come and arrest me

    10
    Mx
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    Mute Mx
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 12:44 AM

    When we are living in a time where privacy is nonexistent ANYWHERE online and we have almost every facet of our Internet usage is tracked, stored and analysed we really need to stop been so naive or lazy and use fake online accounts so nothing can fall back to the REAL you. The internet is an artificial state so everyone should be using an artificial name and identity. Type “ad preferences” into google on your phone/PC and see how much info google have on you already

    9
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    Mute Christine Downey
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    Feb 1st 2012, 11:00 PM

    “forced to buy new flights back to Europe” ??? Go to be ****ed!! You not even going to deport me?? You expect me to pay my own way home?? No way José!

    Why can I not post this comment?? Has the “land of the free” grabbed the journal?

    6
    Aleo
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    Mute Aleo
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:58 PM

    Stories like this really suggest that the United States of America are best appreciated from outside their borders. If we want to discover the glory of the North American continent, with sensible and proportionate security procedures in place to safeguard everyone involved, Canada has it all.

    6
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    Mute Shane O'Connor
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 10:59 AM

    Lol reminds me of the time I made the mistake of wearing an Ed Hardy T shirt on the plane over. Only to be asked by a US immigration official, questions such as: Who is ed hardy? Do you have tattoos? Are you going to a tattoo convention? Is that a lion or a tiger on your shirt etc etc. strange experience.

    6
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    Mute Katherine Nolan
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 2:03 PM

    It would honestly put you off going to the states – which is a real pity, as they seem to choose the humans with least humanity from their number to be be the first people you meet on arrival.

    I was on a flight to Florida some years back, crammed with families going to Disney World. On arrival one family with young children were taken aside, treated in a very rude and unfriendly way (kids crying etc), and questioned by a series of quite threatening people. What marked them out? They had two small kids hurls – the wee tiny ones, for toddlers – in their luggage. Eventually, after a couple of unpleasant hours, the ‘weapons’ were confiscated and they were allowed in.

    It was trivial in the great scheme of things but quite frightening not just for the poor family immediately involved, but for all the people watching them being bundled away, many of whom were trying to explain to the other immigration people what a hurl was.

    4
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    Mute Larry Bird
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 1:29 AM

    Seriously, do you intelligent people believe this? Article, has so many holes in it it’s like a cheese grater. A) do you enter your passport number into twitter? If not then the armed welcome reception better be watching out for everyone with the same name as you…could be confusing
    B) if they were a threat they would be imprisoned, not sent home. If deemed safe then they would be allowed to stay.
    C) no decision making human entered the process other than to verify that Leigh wrote the post? Really? Computers are allowed to decide the deployment of armed response units?

    4
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    Mute Daniel Bohan
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 3:11 PM

    Sanctimonious, patronising and plain old wrong Larry!

    A) His name is Leigh Van Bryan – how many Irish or UK Passport holders have this name? Easy to spot him.
    Also, he probably used twitter on his smartphone, therefore the account is tied to a phone number – the UK & US have sharing agreements in place for mobile phone number database registers. If he updated from a PC, then UK ISP Databases are also shared with the DHS.
    B) They were taken to secondary detention. Once this happens, you ain’t getting in. Secondary detention will decide what your fate is (guantanamo/US Trial/Sent home). They were obviously classified as not being an immediate danger, but their fate was sealed when they went to secondary.
    C) You are obviously not as intelligent as you like to think – I sell the kind of systems that the US are using to the British Government. They track every single passenger from check-in right to your destination. And yes, US DHS, CIA, ATF, FBI et all use computerised systems to deploy resources to “high-risk” areas.

    There’s a great research tool called the internet, we probably won’t have it for much longer, so I suggest you enlighten yourself there

    3
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    Mute Larry Bird
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 8:13 PM

    Daniel, I wasn’t trying to make a statement about how intelligent I am, more that I’m sceptical of the story details. However after further research I admit I don’t have too much grounds for the scepticism as it’s quite widely reported.

    Fair enough, if your selling this computer system the it seems you know more on the topic than I do.

    But I will make one further point, this story was broken by the Sun and Daily Mail and every major news source that features it is certain to quote that in order to distance themselves from any liberal use of the truth in the story details. Which was my original point, (granted I somehow managed to put in a very cheeky and argumentative manner) the story sounds a little bit soap opera.

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    Mute John Murray
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 10:38 AM

    Gonna head up to Montrose and then Kilkenny! Oops!

    2
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    Mute blackwillow1
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    Feb 14th 2012, 4:58 PM

    I think it would be awful if anyone tried to DESTROY AMERICA, or wanted to KILL AMERICAN POLITICIANS, and what a tragedy if somebody had a plan to ASSASSINATE THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A! There now, I think that should ensure the DHS take my details, which is good because I want them to understand just how stupid the rest of the world thinks they are. MUPPETS!

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    Mute Reggie Roning
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    Feb 14th 2012, 7:16 PM

    The question raises how did the government link these twitter account to a real person while most people often use aliases? Yes, in this case the name of the twitter account is his real name but mostly it wont. What about other people with the same name? Overall one has to ask if twitter is not handing over personal information to the US government. It seems most likely that it does.

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    Mute Joe Harte
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    Sep 30th 2012, 2:13 AM

    “Congressman Dwight S. Tayto of South Carolina was rushed to a secure location today after a surge in online chatter indicated a possible Al Qaeda operation targeting him for destruction. The marked increase in chatter indicated a plot to possibly smother the Congressman using a small foil bag coated with salt.”

    1
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    Mute David Donoghue
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    Feb 2nd 2012, 10:59 PM

    The typos in this article are shocking! One or two mistakes are grand but it eventually got to the point where it was clear the author was careless…

    On the topic at hand though, terrible stuff from the Americans..

    1
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    Mute Ste whistler
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    Feb 6th 2012, 2:14 PM

    Anyone else find themselves trying desperately not to write a comment containing all the possible black listed words they could imagine might be on this algorithm thingy? I would like to go to America again one day.. I feel somewhat like a coward!!

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    Feb 14th 2012, 4:39 PM

    Overreliance on computers and failure of human intelligence were the reason why 9/11 occurred. I do not think the U.S. government has learned any lesson from the tragedy. The more sophisticated the computers became, the less sophisticated the human intelligence became — and thus incidents like this that distract from real counter-terror work while also costing the American taxpayers more unnecessary money in this time of massive deficits.

    What also makes me wonder is how the DHS gets to decide whose Twitter handles belong to whom. Presumably they have never subpoenaed Twitter for user records, they simply made a connection between Twitter handles and possibly the profile photos, and the travellers. Given that many people make up fake Twitter handles, sometimes even impersonating others as parodies, and also given that there are many people with same or similar names and Twitter handles, the rate of false positives can be astounding, and many of them are probably simply unreported in the media.

    The arguments often used by the U.S. federal government is that the Constitution does not apply to those who have not yet been legally admitted to the U.S. by the CBP immigration inspectors. In this case, the immigration inspector did not exclude them — and this happened only after the fact at the customs inspection area. The moment the U.S. immigration inspector stamped their passport they are technically under the protection of the U.S. Constitution and associated due process. What makes this case murkier is the use of the Visa Waiver Pilot Program (VWPP, I-94W). Had they have a B-1/B-2 visa from the U.S. consulate, they could have had a better outcome. Unfortunately the VWPP requires tourists to waive all rights of appeal and all due process. Nevertheless, this case could prove to be interesting if the travellers choose to pursue a civil action outside the immigration system.

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