ALL responsible governments must ensure an appropriate balance exists between privacy and security.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) – which covers how surveillance and snooping powers can be used – is fifteen years old and in need of a review.
However, there are worrying signs on both sides of the border that the balance is being tilted against individual rights.
The UK Government’s draft investigatory powers bill would give unprecedented power to the police and security services to keep tabs on law-abiding citizens so that records of every website an individual has viewed in a specific time period could be viewed by law enforcement.
The UK Government argues that, in the more sensitive cases where intrusive surveillance is required, judicial oversight provides independent scrutiny of applications.
However, in the United States - as whistleblower Edward Snowdon has demonstrated - judges tend to rubber stamp national security applications rather than challenging them.
In Scotland, the Sunday Herald's long-running investigations into Police Scotland flouting the new rules for using the RIPA to flush out journalistic sources is also deeply troubling.
We reveal today that the single force may have breached a new Code of Practice up to five times - a transgression that makes a mockery of the MPs who rightly insisted on judicial approval.
Police and security services must be seen to comply with the existing laws before there is any talk of them being granted additional powers - especially in a political environment where privacy and freedom are already being eroded.
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