Iceland told not to share pics of shop lifters - to protect criminal's privacy !!!

After Jallikattu protests turned violent, a video shared by Police authorities show Icehouse Police station being torched by mob, couple of woman cops struggling to escape out through broken open windows.  Their ordeal coupled with some injured cops asks the Q, whether these people are not human too and why would not Human rights or any other Organsiation care for them too !   ~ thousands of miles away – the disappearance of a 20-year-old Icelandic woman, and the detention of a trawlerman from Greenland in connection with her murder, have brought together two of the world’s most sparsely populated countries “in solidarity and sadness”.  There has been  remarkable public response when Icelandic police used social media on 15 January to appeal for help in finding Birna Brjánsdóttir, who was last seen buying a kebab in downtown Reykjavik after she left a nightclub about 4am the day before. Nearly 800 people volunteered to help and it became the biggest search-and-rescue operation in Iceland’s history.

The Republic of Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island.  In 1814, it came under the rule of Denmark, during which a distinct Icelandic national identity emerged. This culminated in independence in 1918 and the founding of a republic in 1944. Until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe.

Iceland Foods Ltd (trading as Iceland) is a British supermarket chain, with emphasis on the sale of frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables. Though sometimes confused with a small country of Viking origins on the fringes of the Arctic Circle, the real Iceland is a unique British food retailer with over 870 stores throughout the UK, a further 40 owned or franchised stores across Europe and a global export business.   In 1970,  Iceland sprang to life when Malcolm Walker decided to open a shop in an attempt to make their fortunes. It has come a long way since. 

Recently, there was some news that Iceland’s ministry of foreign affairs  was considering suing frozen foods giant, Iceland for using its name, 45 years after it was founded. The country is not seeking to make Iceland Foods surrender its brand,  a spokesperson  explained; but  the nation wants to ensure its firms are able to register the name “Iceland” across the UK and EU. “We didn’t make any objections in the beginning, as we were never going to be running any supermarkets,”   but  over the course of the years they have been registering the name in several other categories and companies that have Iceland in the name, they (the supermarket) have been objecting to them using the word Iceland in their names or logos.”

Now here is something interesting read on MailOnline.  Iceland workers who wear body cameras to protect themselves at work have been told not to share pictures of shoplifters to protect the criminals' privacy. The frozen food giant uses WhatsApp groups to share information about thieves and thugs with other retailers. But the Government's data protection unit have called the message threads illegal.  Iceland workers have been told not to share pictures of thugs and shoplifters with other retailers on WhatsApp groups in a bid to protect the assailants' privacy.

Iceland's chief executive Malcolm Walker, 70, has called the warning 'political correctness gone wrong'. He told the Sun: 'The thugs — or as our security manager prefers to call them, 'toe rags' — are apparently entitled to their privacy.' According to Mr Walker, 208 employees have been injured in a workplace assault over the last ten months. In 2013, almost 200 Iceland branches used body cameras supplied by security company Pinnacle Response. The wireless PR5 model was originally trialled in two Iceland branches and proved a huge success.  According to head of security Duncan Miles, the CCTV devices have helped to prevent employees from being assaulted.

Strange are the ways of people !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th Feb 2017.