International Law

RIPA Commissioner and illegal Property Interference by the Environment Agency

If the Rt Hon Sir Stephen Rose had been more transparent and explicit in his (censored) Annual Report of the Chief Surveillance Commissioner to the Prime Minister and to Scottish Ministers for 2008-200 (.pdf) under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and the Police Act 1997, which fails to "name and shame" the culprits at the "public authorities" who have been acting illegally, the perhaps today's story in the Daily Telegraph, about the increasingly meddlesome and authoritarian function creeping "Executive Non-departmental Public Body ", the Environment Agency, would already have been dealt with over 2 years ago.

Government officials track cars and trespass on private property, report shows

Government officials have been improperly tracking cars and trespassing on private property after receiving advice from the Home Office on circumventing the law, internal documents seen by The Daily Telegraph have disclosed.

By Jon Swaine and Holly Watt
Published: 5:32PM BST 21 Sep 2009

Reports from the Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC), a Government agency, found that staff from the Environment Agency investigating the illegal disposal of waste may have broken the law.

The OSC uncovered evidence that the Home Office may have improperly advised the Environment Agency on how to circumvent strict laws governing the use of covert surveillance.

Despite the alleged breaches being uncovered last year, the documents - released following a Freedom of Information request - show that the Environment Agency has continued to use the controversial tactics.

Last night, the Environment Agency said that it was suspending use of the tactics pending a legal judgement on whether they were acceptable.

However, the agency is also trialling a register of secret informants who report suspected waste offences in the north east of England, and eventually plans a national spy network, the Commissioner reported.

"a register of secret informants" or "a national spy network" ? How soon before all their names and addresses etc. are dumped onto an unencrypted USB memory stick to be lost or stolen ? Or will they simply be sold by insiders to criminals ?

Why should anybody trust the untrained, inexperienced Environment Agency with the recruitment and handling and protection of Covert Human Intelligence Sources ?

Full post as published by Spy Blog on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).