Curb on Big Brother 'doesn't go far enough'
CRITICS yesterday blasted plans to water down councils’ snooping powers for not going far enough.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson outlined moves to curb the ability of town halls to spy on people putting bins out on the wrong day.
Only council chief executives will now have the power to order covert surveillance operations and a new code of practice will supposedly ban their use for minor matters.
Official figures show that methods like hidden CCTV cameras have been used 50,000 times by local bodies since Labour gave them the powers in 2002. One use will now be to track a hard core of 50,000 absent parents who fail to pay for child support.
But Opposition spokesman criticised yesterday’s move.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “The Government’s proposals are weak and clearly show that it hasn’t understood the scale of snooping that’s going on. Conservatives have been arguing for judicial approval.”
Powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act were originally publicised as vital to tackle terrorism and serious crime.
But local officials used them at massive cost for dog fouling, checking staff who claim to be sick, and even monitoring the use of disabled parking badges. Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, said: “The Government’s snoopers’ charter has got out of hand.”
Alex Deane, of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said: “Unaccountable council officials shouldn’t be able to intrude into our lives as they currently do. Abuse is rampant.”
