NZ Snoop Backlash

[George at Orwellian.Org]

But first...

Butt-ugly KGB watches:

    http://www.russia2all.com/watches/military/watch_military_army.htm

Get yer KGB memorabilia before portals bans it.

----

Wouldn't it be at least something to have a U.S. cabinet level
position of Privacy Commissioner? NZ, Canada but not US.

(via slashdot)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=167151&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

Police snooping needs tight rein says report

01/03/2001 By EUGENE BINGHAM political reporter

Plans to give police and spy agencies the power to hack into 
computers and intercept electronic communications will lead to 
unprecedented snooping, the Privacy Commissioner has warned.

In a report calling for limitations to be placed on law 
enforcement bodies, and greater accountability, Bruce Slane 
opposes the "pernicious" practice of police hacking into 
databases.

He has recommended that if police are allowed to hack into 
personal computers, they should need more than a search warrant.

A law change making hacking and other computer snooping illegal 
except when carried out by the Security Intelligence Service 
(SIS), the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) or 
the police is before the law and order select committee.

Associate Justice Minister Paul Swain introduced the legislation 
in November, saying the agencies needed the powers to battle 
crime and terrorism.

Mr Slane reported to the Government on the changes before 
Christmas, welcoming the clamp-down on unauthorised access to 
computer systems but questioning whether there would be enough 
controls on state agencies.

"It is easy to think of the interception of communications or 
the accessing of a computer as affecting only the target of police 
interest," he wrote.

"However ... many other people [are] affected by interceptions 
or computer-related searches.

"Trawling or browsing through a myriad of personal information 
[would be] authorised on an unprecedented scale.

"A single interception warrant can, for instance, authorise 
listening into hundreds of conversations involving scores of 
individuals beyond the targeted individuals."

The new law would clear the SIS to carry out a sting on a database 
once the agency had an interception warrant.

Police would need only a search warrant.

Mr Slane did not believe that a search warrant, issued by a 
justice of the peace, was strong enough.

"Search warrants are not designed for regulating covert 
investigations or surveillance," he said.

"Hacking into a person's computer should be, if allowed at all, 
very much a last resort.

"Search warrants, unlike interception warrants, do not require 
the intrusive technique to be used only as a last resort."

Mr Slane said yesterday that the police should have to obtain 
an interception warrant from a judge too.

Hacking into a computer and intercepting electronic communications 
was far more intrusive than police saying, "We have got some 
evidence this guy's got stolen property."

The report also calls for the GCSB to be omitted from the 
exemption clauses until it becomes a statutory body like the 
SIS.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has said the bureau would be written 
into law this year.

Mr Slane said it should not be given more rights until the public 
was aware of its accountability and powers.

"Unlike the SIS, any interceptions which may be carried out are 
not subject to a statutory warrant process.

"This will not be put right until the GCSB's establishment is 
set out in legislation."