Government pays private company to illegally spy on the public
The Guardian has exposed an undercover operation involving a Detective Constable working for Strathclyde police, and another person, attempting to recruit a Plane Stupid activist into becoming a police spy.
Given that the Detective Constable is the lowest rank within the police service, they do not have assistants working for them, usually the Detective Constable assists a Detective Sergeant or officer of a higher rank. Therefore, the reference to the Detective Constable's "assistant" in the article is suspect.
The Guardian article states that the Assistant Chief Constable for Strathclyde police, George Hamilton, claims that the undercover operation was within the powers granted by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. However, RIPA "is about defining the powers the government and its security, intelligence and communications bodies will have to snoop on electronic communications and data". I fail to see how attempting to recruit an activist to spy on other activists and report back to the controllers falls within the power of RIPA. Nowhere in the article is their mention of internet activity, which is what RIPA is supposed to cover.
According to the Guardian article: "It is known that at national level, a confidential intelligence unit has been set up by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) with the power to operate across the UK, mount surveillance and run informers, with the intention of building up a detailed picture of "domestic extremism"". I wrote a post here explaining that ACPO is not actually an association at all but is in fact a private company. Therefore, it does not have any public power to set up any confidential intelligence unit with the public power to operate across the UK. In other words, it is a mercenary force. As such, it is illegal. I have discovered that the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) is a police unit co-located with the Centre for the Protection of the National Infrastructure (CPNI), and reports to and is funded by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
What the Guardian article fails to point out is that Assistant Chief Constable for Strathclyde police, George Hamilton, is a member of the private company ACPO whilst at the same time is supposed to be working for the public. I suspect that both the Detective Constable and the so-called "assistant" were not engaged in any public duty in attempting to recruit the activist as a spy, rather they were doing so for the private company ACPO. If this is the case, why is the government paying a private company to illegally spy on civilians?
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
"Nowhere in the article is their mention of internet activity, which is what RIPA is supposed to cover."
ReplyDeleteRIPA is supposed to cover all covert surveillance, not just the internet.
"An Act to make provision for and about the interception of communications, the acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the carrying out of surveillance, the use of covert human intelligence sources and the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed; to provide for Commissioners and a tribunal with functions and jurisdiction in relation to those matters, to entries on and interferences with property or with wireless telegraphy and to the carrying out of their functions by the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Headquarters; and for connected purposes."
In Scotland, it would be RIPSA:
"An Act of the Scottish Parliament to regulate surveillance and the use of covert human intelligence sources."