Government Departments Tap 1,000 Phones A Day

Police, government intelligence officials, and even councils are now tapping phones at a rate of up to 1,000 a day, according to a document released by a government Commissioner.

Sir Paul Kennedy, Interception of Communications Commissioner, has released the startling figure in his latest report to the government, igniting fears that the privacy of everyday British people is being diminished.

The report found, even more worryingly, that over 1,000 of the bugging operations were conducted incorrectly due to administrative errors, allowing authorities access in to the private lives of innocent people.

Labour Home Affairs Committee Member, David Winnick, said greater legal protection was needed to prevent abuse of the new surveillance powers, pointing out that Britain already has more CCTV cameras per person than any other country in the world.

He said: "Most of these operations are needed and done for good reasons, but the numbers do raise concerns about the safeguards we have put in place to protect people from constant intrusion."

Mr Winnick added Britain is drifting towards the scenario warned about in books such as George Orwell’s classic 1984.

The report shows that in the last nine months alone of 2006, there were 253,557 applications by authorities to intercept private communications under the present surveillance laws. Most of which were approved.

In that period 122 local authorities sought to obtain people's private communications in more than 1,600 cases.

(DW)