The Conservative Party has vowed to clamp down on local
authorities that abuse their powers by snooping on e-mails and
phonecalls of people suspected of minor infringements, such as
putting out their rubbish on the wrong day.
"The creeping use of surveillance powers by local authorities
represents a disproportionate intrusion into the personal privacy
of local residents, without having demonstrated any law enforcement
justification," the party said today.
The promise came as the Tories published a paper, "Reversing The
Rise of the Surveillance State", which sets out to dismantle what
the Tories claim is a "big brother" state created under Labour.
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said the new government
would amend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) so
that councils will only be allowed access to communications data to
investigate serious crimes.
They would have to seek approval from the council leader and a
warrant from a magistrates court to monitor citizens' e-mail or
phonecall traffic data.
Alarming proposals
The proposal comes as part of a wider clampdown on central
government databases to monitor and collect data on the public.
Grieve said he was alarmed at the government's proposed
Communications
Data Bill, which includes plans to collect data on the phone,
e-mail and web browsing habits of every member of the
population.
The proposals would give the government access to telephone
numbers dialled by members of the public, the websites they visit
and addresses to which e-mails are sent.
"The government is proposing harvesting data on a colossal
scale. It is a dire proposal. We are very alarmed about its
impact," he said.
Surveillance promises
The Tories promised to cut back the use of other automated
systems to track the public. The £16bn National ID Register and
ContactPoint databases would be scrapped and DNA of innocent people
would no longer be retained on the Police National DNA database
indefinitely.
"There is an over-reliance [by Labour] on the database state. It
encroaches on privacy and delivers ostensibly little in return,"
Grieve said.
An automated system would not have identified Ian Huntley before
the Soham murders in 2002, he said. "We need joined-up working, not
massive databases, to exchange information."
Grieve also promised to increase the powers of the Office of the
Information Commissioner to audit government departments and
conduct ad hoc powers of inspection with the ability to impose
fines for reckless or grossly negligent management of data.
Human rights group Liberty said, "Local councils should not have
access to the Ripa powers at all. It should be something for the
police."