Nicky Hager of Stuff reports, “Spies target animal rights campaigners:”
An Auckland private investigation firm has been caught out after it attached a sophisticated tracking device to a political campaigner’s car – but left the device visible from outside the vehicle.
The GPS tracking device, which used a mobile phone connection to report the car’s position to private investigators, had been attached with magnets.
It is the third time in three years the Sunday Star-Times has caught Thompson & Clark Investigations doing covert surveillance on political groups for corporate clients.
Read more on Stuff.
From a Green Party press release:
Changes to a law already before Parliament could protect New Zealanders from spying by private companies, the Green Party said today.
“It’s silly that private investigators have more rights to use tracking devices than the Police,” said Green human rights spokesperson Keith Locke, “but we can extend the law to control companies and individuals as well as Government agencies.”
Read more on Scoop.
The Privacy Commissioner’s comments on tracking as it relates to the new counter-terrorism bill can be found at http://www.privacy.org.nz/counter-terrorism-bill/?highlight=tracking