What civil liberties?
Poole Borough Council's admission that it used powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000, (effectively anti-terror legislation) to spy on three children in order to establish whether they were the subject of fraudulent school place applications, is a gross misuse of the Act, a scandalous invasion of privacy and a wholly disproportionate response to a relatively trivial situation.
Whilst it is true that schools admissions are a politically sensitive issue these days, a potentially fraudulent school application form is hardly as heinous as, say, international terrorism, organised crime or paedophilia. It is not particularly difficult to establish whether or not a parent has lied about their address for the purpose of gaining admission to a particular school. Full scale cloak-and-dagger operations may be more entertaining for the staff involved, but a quick phone call or knock on the door of a suspect applicant would probably be just as effective, and cheaper.
It is hard to escape the conclusion that Poole Council used these powers simply because they were available. Indeed, the council was hardly shamefaced about owning up to the spying allegations. They were acting within the law, and in any case parents expected them to come down hard on those who try to buck the system, they said. Unfortunately, this is just not good enough. Just because a course of action is within the law does not necessarily mean it is just and proportionate. The Labour governments of the past eleven years have been altogether too keen to push through ill-considered legislation with a potential for abuse - of course no-one would ever dream of using RIPA powers for anything other than the most serious cases. Except of course, that now they have.
The civil rights group Liberty are right to cry 'foul' on this issue. It is unlikely that the government will wish to revise this legislation, so the next best thing is to name and shame those who are acting outside the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. After the negative publicity of the past couple of days, other councils will hopefully think twice before going down this route in future.
Whilst it is true that schools admissions are a politically sensitive issue these days, a potentially fraudulent school application form is hardly as heinous as, say, international terrorism, organised crime or paedophilia. It is not particularly difficult to establish whether or not a parent has lied about their address for the purpose of gaining admission to a particular school. Full scale cloak-and-dagger operations may be more entertaining for the staff involved, but a quick phone call or knock on the door of a suspect applicant would probably be just as effective, and cheaper.
It is hard to escape the conclusion that Poole Council used these powers simply because they were available. Indeed, the council was hardly shamefaced about owning up to the spying allegations. They were acting within the law, and in any case parents expected them to come down hard on those who try to buck the system, they said. Unfortunately, this is just not good enough. Just because a course of action is within the law does not necessarily mean it is just and proportionate. The Labour governments of the past eleven years have been altogether too keen to push through ill-considered legislation with a potential for abuse - of course no-one would ever dream of using RIPA powers for anything other than the most serious cases. Except of course, that now they have.
The civil rights group Liberty are right to cry 'foul' on this issue. It is unlikely that the government will wish to revise this legislation, so the next best thing is to name and shame those who are acting outside the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. After the negative publicity of the past couple of days, other councils will hopefully think twice before going down this route in future.
posted by Paul at 7:34 PM
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