By Sarah Left, 7 December 1998 17:56
NEWS Europe is about six months away from allowing wire-tapping without court authorisation, according to a leading privacy rights organisation. Privacy International claims that European ministers are close to formulating an EU directive that will allow law enforcement officials to tap Internet and satellite communications without a warrant. Currently it is illegal in the UK for any wire-tapping to take place without a court order. "There is no excuse for a police officer not getting a warrant," said Sidley & Austin solicitor, Nick Lockett. "It's easy to get. They're almost - but not quite - given on the nod." But Internet and satellite communications are a different story. In order for officials to tap into an Iridium call, they need permission from Italian authorities. The Iridium base station is located in Italy. According to an Iridium spokeswoman, no request for interception of an Iridium call has ever been made. But the company isn't taking a stance either way on the potential directive. "We are a network operator and we have to follow the laws. It's not our business to judge political plans," said an Iridium spokeswoman. As for Internet communications, Privacy International's technical policy adviser, Ian Brown, says law enforcement authorities are trying push the lack of case law in the area as far as they can. Privacy International's director, Simon Davies, said the move was a culmination of three years of privacy degradation. "They're trying to engineer an infrastructure that has a default wire-tap friendliness," he said. "Human rights will gravitate towards the lowest common denominator, while law enforcement rights do exactly the reverse."
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below