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Phone spies: Town halls using anti-terror powers to bug residents' calls and emails
Last updated at 09:00am on 05.06.08
Town hall snoopers used controversial anti-terror powers to delve into the phone and email records of thousands of people last year.
They wanted to check for evidence of dog smuggling and storing petrol without permission - and even to trace a suspected bogus faith healer.
In one case they were inquiring into unburied animal carcasses.
Some councils are allowing middle-ranking staff to authorise covert operations under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which is intended for use 'in the interests of national security'.
Council spies: Local authorities are using anti-terror laws to spy on residents just like the film, The Lives of Others
Many of those spied upon will have no idea they have been subjected to surveillance, as those who are innocent have no right to know.
Last night Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'This is a stark demonstration of how the surveillance society has got out of control with the improper use of very broad powers - powers that the public would expect to be used only for serious crime and security threats.'
Using Freedom of Information laws, 152 local councils were asked if they were using the power to intercept details of who a person phoned or emailed plus when and where the call took place.
The answers revealed that town halls looked into the private data of 936 individuals and only 31 councils did not use these powers at all.
If the same pattern were repeated across the remaining 322 councils, it would make a totalof around 3,000 people having their phone and email records accessed by bureaucrats.
Outraged: Jenny Paton and Tim Joyce were spied on because Poole Council wrongly suspected they were lying about living in a particular catchment area
The Freedom of Information requests also revealed the range of offences councils have used the anti-terror law to probe.
Kent County Council carried out 23 telephone subscriber checks as part of probes into storing petrol without a licence and bringing a dog into the UK without putting it into quarantine.
Six of the 16 checks carried out by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council were intended to identify and locate a bogus faith healer.
Lewisham Borough Council's 18 checks included six on a rogue removal firm and one on a rogue pharmacist.
Bolton Council requested subscriber details for a mobile phone number in connection with a probe into unburied animal carcasses.
Warning: Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said surveillance was 'out of control'
Snoopers at Birmingham City Council carried out 89 checks, the most in the survey.
Councils insist they are using the powers properly to investigate or prevent a crime.
But opponents said it proves RIPA, passed in 2000 by Labour to regulate spying and surveillance by police and the security services, is far too widely drawn.
Civil rights group Liberty said: 'You can care about serious crime and terrorism without throwing away our personal privacy with a snoopers' charter.
'The law must be reformed to require sign-off by judges, not selfauthorisation by over-zealous bureaucrats.'
RIPA also allows undercover council staff to watch individuals.
Operations can be justified on the grounds of anything from national security to 'protecting public health or public safety', 'preventing a crime' and 'protecting the economic well-being of the UK'.
This can cover dog fouling and even putting out a sack of rubbish on the wrong day.
The latest findings follow a string of alarming examples of how the anti-terror power is being used.
Poole council in Dorset spied on a family because it wrongly suspected the parents of abusing rules on school catchment areas.
Officials in Derby, Bolton, Gateshead and Hartlepool admitted using covert spying techniques to deal with dog fouling, while Bolton spied on suspected litter louts.
Officials in Kensington and Chelsea used RIPA powers to spy on a resident suspected of misusing a disabled parking badge.
Conwy council in Wales spied on an employee who was working while off sick.
Mirza Ahmad, chief legal officer at Birmingham City Council, said: 'We are committed to putting citizens first and will use whatever powers exist, where appropriate, to catch rogue traders, doorstep criminals and scam artists who prey on some of the most vulnerable in our society.'
The Home Office said a person investigated using the Act would not be told by a council. It would only come to light in the event of a prosecution.
Reader views (7)
I sincerely hope that these assiduous local authorities intend to deploy their draconian powers to check on benefits cheats, clearly a major threat to the "economic wellbeing of the country" as well as targeting their traditional whipping boys, i.e. the generally law abiding middle classes who, excuse me, pay for the majority of the country's social services; the treatment of the Joyces re: school catchment area is a prime example of their readiness to throw the full weight of the law against such people
- Helen, London, UK
It seems to be just another part of the clandestine birth of our Nu Socialist nation.
- Jose, Wales
If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear; if you have nothing to fear you should have nothing to hide.
- Dai Hunter, London
It's about time these powers were only used by the Police and other security services. All of those apologists, when these laws were passed, who claimed that the innocent had nothing to fear have been proven utterly wrong.
This is truly disgraceful
- Lmd, London
This ALWAYS happens with draconian legislation; at first we are told to believe that heavy powers will only be used "in an emergency" or "to catch terrorists"; you can be sure that once they have forced through 42-day internment, it will be used frequently and routinely, probably for terrorist atrocities such as dropping litter.
- Neil, London UK,
The RIPA has given powers of surveillance to a wide range of Government Departments as well as to Local Authorities and is clearly being used in a way that no one intended. Certainly the examples quoted have nothing to do with suspected terrorism. However that may be, the misuse of powers is frightening and this under a Brown administration that wants us to accept detention without charge for up to 6 weeks, again quoting terror as an excuse. With this type of thing going on I cannot say I feel convinced of the need or that our civil liberties are in safe hands. I feel more afraid of the Government's lack of control than of anything else.
- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK
How on earth has a piece of legislation against organised crime given Local Authorities extra powers? Surely these extra powers should be the exclusive preserve of the Police and security services. There must be a reform to clearly state this or we have unchecked bureaucrats playing at policemen.
- Mark, London, UK
