Byron Buckley & Robert Hart, News Editors
THE SPECIAL Select Committee of Parliament on national security wants law enforcement officers to be authorised to tap a person's telephone without permission of the Supreme Court under special circumstances.
In a report tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday, the six-man committee, chaired by National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips, argued that law enforcers should be able to "modify a warrant so as to carry out interception in respect of a person who is an associate of the subject of that warrant and is believed to be involved the same prohibited activity."
Their comments were made in regard to the Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, which the committee has been reviewing in camera since November 9, 2005.
HIGH-TECH CRIME FIGHT
The bill is one of several which the Government is seeking to pass in the stepped-up fight against criminal networks which exploit advances in communications technology and limitations in the current act to cover their nefarious activities.
Controversy is raging in the United States over reports that President George W. Bush unlawfully authorised the tapping of Americans' telephones in the fight against terrorism.
Here, the proposed law will authorise the tapping of the telephones of a person, group or organisation involved in offences such as:
* Terrorism.
* Sale or trafficking of children.
* Forcible abduction, child stealing, administering drugs.
* Fraud.
However, although allowing an 'authorised' officer to widen the scope of a warrant initially issued by the court, the legislators insist that "all modifications made to a warrant by an authorised officer be submitted to the Supreme Court for confirmation as soon as is reasonably practicable, and not later than seven days after the date of the modification."
The committee also recommended that the names of all telecommunications service providers be included on a interception warrant because the source of telephone numbers would not, necessarily, be known at the time of the issue of the warrant.
The bill is to be debated soon by the full House. Members of the special committee are, for the Government: Peter Phillips, Karl Blythe, Paul Robertson, Morais Guy; for the Opposition: Derrick Smith, Delroy Chuck, and Kenneth Baugh.
