On Sun, 11 May 2008 07:10:59 GMT, Mike_B
wrote:
>>Namely that you can be prosecuted *here* for something you do abroad
>>which *is* a crime in this country (even if it isn't where you did
>>it).
>
>I understand you to be saying that the actual effect of this law is
>extraterrotoriality, in which the UK attempts to make its laws apply all
>over the world. So taken to absurdium we could happily drive around the
>USA and on our return be prosecuted for driving through a red traffic
>light to turn right, even though such an action was entirely legal in
>the place you did it. Still sounds crazy to me.
How about being prosecuted for driving on the wrong side of the road
:-)
OTOH it might not be a bad thing if UK companies could be prosecuted
for circumventing minimum wage laws by using overseas call centres!
The main reason I find such a law obnoxious is that it implies that we
are the *property* of the UK government, that they can dictate what we
may and may not do even when completely outside their juristiction.
As always, such laws are brought in on the back of something emotive
such as child protection or terrorism. Like other laws, it will be
extended to cover other activities either by being loosely worded or
by being extended in a few years' time after people have got used to
the idea.
--
Cynic
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