HMP Britain

A mother from Poole is at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal over her local council’s use of surveillance. Jenny Patton was suspected of lying on a school admission form, the council used covert surveillance to establish whether her application for a school place was fraudulent (it wasn’t).

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act(”RIPA”) liberalises huge surveillance powers to a range of public bodies, including councils and fire services. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal judges whether surveillance was lawful or unlawful.

From 2000 – 2008, the Tribunal heard 799 complaints.

It has upheld just 3 complaints.

The beauty of the RIPA system is this: you can complain about surveillance but how do you find out whether you’ve been spied on? Section 54 of RIPA—entitled ‘Tipping Off—prohibits disclosure of surveillance, including the target of surveillance. Indeed, tipping off under RIPA is a serious crime that carries as maximum sentence of 5 years.

So, you can complain to a quango about secret surveillance, but only if someone else breaks the law and tells you about it.

Doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?

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