Sunday TV program article about the Search & Surveillance Bill
The Sunday program does a Big Brother episode about government spying and the Search and Surveillance Bill.
Is it protection or prying? SUNDAY investigates legislation which will dramatically increase the state's authority to peep into your private lives. Just who is reading your emails, listening to your phone conversations and where does it stop? Should we be afraid? One legal heavyweight says it's "creepy" and warns it is open to abuse.
The program starts by discussing the interception of phone calls and internet traffic. It then moves on to the Search and Surveillance Bill and whether it extends government powers, using the example of whether a city council would now be able to put a camera in your house. Chester Burrows, chair of the select committee reviewing the bill, denies that there is any extensions of powers and says that a council couldn't do that. Warren Young of the Law Commission, the author of the report that lead to the bill, contradicts Burrows and says that the council could do it if they got a warrant; and that this was a new power.
Here's a direct link to the video.