Miranda Bryant reports:
London councils used anti-terror laws to snoop on residents more than 1,000 times in two years, it was revealed today.
The figures, obtained by campaign group Big Brother Watch, also show that only 71 of the secret investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act against Londoners between April 2008 and March this year led to prosecutions.
Critics of the laws claim councils overuse the laws for relatively minor offences such as leaving rubbish out at the wrong time and fixing cars in the street. Bromley was the worst offender, with 150 investigations, and used the law to try to catch people leaving unwanted items outside charity shops.
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