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No more bin snooping: Council bureaucrats to be banned from using
anti-terror spy laws
James Slack
UK
Daily Mail
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008
Town Hall bureaucrats are to be banned from using anti-terror
laws to spy on people
suspected of minor bin ‘crimes’.
In a victory for the Daily Mail, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will
today announce sweeping reforms to the controversial Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act.
The review will strip councils of the power to use the anti-terror
legislation ‘disproportionately’ for minor crimes,
such as dog fouling or putting bins out on the wrong day.
Low and middle-ranking council officials – who have been
responsible for a string of bizarre investigations – will
be stopped from issuing RIPA ‘snooper’ authorisations
altogether.
Only chief executives will be allowed to use the powers and they
will be limited to serious crimes such as fly-tipping and benefit
fraud.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
There will also be a review of whether too many public bodies
can use RIPA, which was brought in to spy on terrorists in 2000.
Currently some 474 public authorities have the power to ‘snoop’
on the public.
In a major speech on security and privacy, Miss Smith will say:
‘I don’t want to see these powers being used to target
people for putting their bins out on the wrong day, for dog fouling,
or to check whether paper boys are carrying sacks that are too
heavy.’
Full
article here
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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