Police want more bugging powers

08.03.2003
By EUGENE BINGHAM

A tracking device the size of a matchbox is about to become the latest 
counter-terrorism tool under proposed law changes expanding police 
and enforcement agencies' powers.  

Police yesterday refused to discuss the technology, but specialists the 
Weekend Herald spoke to said the equipment was likely to be Global 
Positioning System (GPS) kits enabling investigators in control rooms 
to trace their target's movements.  

A well-placed source said the devices would be fitted to cars or placed 
in bags by technicians who specialised in finding the right place to hide 
them.  

"Half the battle is to secrete it so that it's not easily seen by the 
target, but where it can also transmit effectively," said the source.  

A GPS antenna hooked up to a transmitter and batteries was about the 
size of a matchbox these days, he said. Anything smaller was "spy 
movie stuff".  

But an Australian National University computer science and information 
technology expert, Dr Roger Clarke, said the devices were get smaller 
and more effective.  

Cellphone systems could even possibly be set up so that a person 
could be followed even if he had his phone switched off.  

Dr Clarke said the legislation was not particularly specific on what 
kind of tracking devices would be used, because the agencies wanted 
to be in a position to take advantage of advances in technology  

"They want to take advantage of the [post-September 11 environment] 
to get everything they can on the statute books as a blatant grab for 
excess powers.  

"Their strategy would be to avoid anything specific in the legislation," 
said Dr Clarke.  

Under the proposal, contained in the Counter-Terrorism Bill, which is 
expected to have its first reading in Parliament this month, officers 
would need a judge's approval before installing a tracking device.  

The judge would have to be satisfied the use of the device was 
necessary for a serious terrorism investigation, and would have 
to weigh up the individual's privacy considerations.  

Armed with the court warrant, the officers would then be entitled to 
break into somewhere, or use force, to install the equipment.  

Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane said the use of tracking devices 
needed to be closely monitored.  

He welcomed provisions forcing the agencies to publicly report how 
many warrants they had obtained each year.  

"Conceivably this law could herald a significant expansion in the use 
of tracking devices," Mr Slane said in a submission to the Government 
on the bill.  

"Were that to happen, it is only the annual reporting requirement 
which will alert Parliament and the public to what is going on.  

"That will enable the democratic process to contribute to the enduring 
debate on the question of where the line should be drawn between a free 
society and a surveillance state."  

Mr Slane said he supported the bill but believed it should also include 
a penalty for officers caught abusing their powers.  

Police and Customs officers currently have some powers under 
the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act to use tracking devices.  

A spokeswoman for Customs said the service used devices to 
trace packages that were of interest in drug investigations.

                            -==-

Source: New Zealand Herald - -
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3199765
&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

Cheers, Steve..

---