A council which used controversial laws to spy on a mother and her family 21 times in three weeks insisted today that its actions only ‘minimally’ invaded their privacy. Poole Borough Council had also used Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) legislation on two other occasions to determine whether families were living in the right…
Category: Govt
Two Battles Won: PATRIOT Reform AND State Secrets Reform Bills Pass House Committee
Kevin Bankston of EFF reports some good news in the House of Representatives: After a long two days of legislative battle, the House Judiciary Committee just finished its second day of debate on Chairman Conyers’ PATRIOT reform bill, HR 3845 (see our wrap-up of the first day). Thanks in no small part to those of…
UK: Councils’ surveillance powers curbed
Alan Travis reports: The “surveillance state” powers of local authorities to snoop on the public are to be curbed under reforms announced by the home secretary, Alan Johnson. Junior council officials are to lose the authority to order surveillance operations including secret filming and eavesdropping for “trivial reasons” such as catching people putting out their…
NZ: Big Brother Will Be Watching You – The Search And Surveillance Bill
Chris Ford writes: Recently, the National Government decided to take up the previous Labour administration’s Search and Surveillance Bill. This bill would effectively make George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ character blush. Already both the Human Rights Commission and the Privacy Commissioner have condemned the bill. Human Rights chief commissioner Ros Noonan has called the proposed law…