Public Eye reports:
Last week, an odd tale emerged from the world of soccer of a government agency potentially breaching privacy law. The case has embroiled two NSW public sector agencies as well as the sport’s governing body, Football Federation Australia, and prompted talk of a lawsuit against The Sunday Telegraph. Our main interest, however, is with the bizarre reactions to this breach from some officials at the agencies involved.
To recap for readers who aren’t obsessive A-League fans (of whom there may be a handful), the Telegraph reported details of “secret police files” containing photographs of 198 “soccer louts” banned from attending games. It published some of the individuals’ names, photos and alleged misconduct, as well as comments from NSW police chief Andrew Scipione and assistant commissioner Kyle Stewart, who condemned what they called a violent culture among the sport’s fans. Which would have been fair enough – if their criticism was limited to actual offenders.
Read more on The Canberra Times.