“In a speech, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith called for new ‘common sense standards’ for the use of investigatory powers and the retention of DNA profiles.”
Home Office, 16th December 2008
Source: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
“Town halls are to be banned from using anti-terror laws to spy on the public for petty offences, the Home Secretary is due to announce.”
Daily Telegraph, 16th December 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Council staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the Human Rights Act, which protects the right to a private life, before the social services team backed down and agreed to switch off the surveillance camera while they were in bed together. The case is highlighted in a new dossier of human rights abuses carried out against vulnerable and elderly adults in nursing homes and hospitals across Britain.”
Daily Telegraph, 24th November 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The timetable for setting up a giant ‘Big Brother’ database is slipping after the scheme was dropped from next month’s Queen’s Speech. The Independent has highlighted growing fury over government moves to collate details of every telephone call, email and internet visit.”
The Independent, 21st November 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“This guide is based on UK law. It was last updated in October 2008.”
OUT-LAW.com, 11th November 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
“More than half of councils are using anti-terror laws to spy on families suspected of ‘bin crimes’, it has emerged.”
Daily Telegraph, 1st November 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The outgoing chief prosecutor for England and Wales has warned against a security state amid fear of terrorism.”
BBC News, 20th October 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Senior Home Office officials have expressed concern about the Government’s controversial plans to set up a new ‘Big Brother’ national database, according to a leaked memo.”
The Independent, 20th October 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“The government is drawing up plans to give the police and security and intelligence agencies new powers to access personal data held by internet services, including social network sites such as Facebook and Bebo and gaming networks.”
The Guardian, 15th October 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
R v S (F) and A(S); [2008] WLR (D) 313
“The key or password to an encrypted computer file was a fact which did not constitute an admission of guilt. Only knowledge of it might be incriminating if the data contained incriminating material.”
WLR Daily, 10th October 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“Covert surveillance was used in a bid to catch independent punt operators collecting customers from undesignated spots along the River Cam in Cambridge.”
Daily Telegraph, 16th September 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Local councils, health authorities and hundreds of other public bodies are to be given the power to access details of everyone’s personal text, emails and internet use under Home Office proposals published yesterday.”
The Guardian, 13th August 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina (A) v Director of Establishments of the Security Service
Queen’s Bench Division
“The Investigatory Powers Tribunal did not have exclusive jurisdiction where a claim that a public authority proposed to act in a way incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights brought up matters within its purview.”
The Times, 5th August 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“More than 500,000 official ‘spying’ requests for private communications data such as telephone records were made last year, a report says.”
BBC News, 22nd July 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“There is something very flawed about the Government’s response to knife crime. To be fair, none of the political parties has come up with an effective way of tackling the problem.”
The Times, 17th July 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Councils in England have been urged to review the way they use surveillance powers to investigate suspected crime.”
BBC News, 23rd June 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Every council in England will today be instructed to stop using tough laws to spy on people over ‘trivial matters’ such as dog-fouling and litter offences.”
The Guardian, 23rd June 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Home Office held a private meeting with Phorm in August last year, but BT’s interception and profiling partner did not disclose that it had completed an allegedly illegal trial of its technology on tens of thousands of unwitting broadband subscribers just weeks earlier.”
The Register, 18th June 2008
Source: www.theregister.co.uk
“Thousands of middle managers in local councils are being authorised to spy on people suspected of petty offences using powers designed to prevent crime and terrorism.”
The Times, 31st May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Human rights lawyers are increasingly alarmed that a piece of legislation that put state snooping on a legal basis has resulted in a huge expansion of the public sector’s ability to pry into private lives.”
The Times, 31st May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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