Hager reads too many spy books - Swain

[William Knowles <erehwon () C4I ORG>]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,460345a11,FF.html

30 OCTOBER 2000

Commerce Minister Paul Swain on Sunday suggested author Nicky Hager was
"reading too many spy novels", after Hager claimed a secret plan to
monitor individuals' private communications over the internet.

Writing in the Sunday Star-Times, Hager accused the Government of secrecy
over its plans to introduce legislation allowing police and government spy
agencies to monitor and intercept e-mail, fax and text messaging.

Hager said the plans stemmed from secret talks with American law
enforcement agency the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which wanted
"standardised spy systems" for electronic interceptions.

New Zealand officials had agreed to implement the changes after attending
a meeting at the FBI headquarters in Quantico, south of Washington, DC, in
1993, Hager said.

But Mr Swain said the proposed law had been publicised in July and there
was nothing new in what Hager exposed.

He promised a full public debate before any changes were made, with a
select committee process to hear the evidence for and against the proposed
legislation.

"He goes after the big conspiracy theories, does old Nicky. I think it
comes from reading too many spy novels," Mr Swain said.

"What was talked about in the Sunday Star-Times today it was all out in
July, there was nothing new."

The Government signalled wider powers for the police and other
surveillance agencies to intercept electronic transmissions in July,
saying they should be put on the same footing as phone calls.

Police can intercept phone calls with a High Court warrant, but have no
similar powers with electronic transmissions such as e-mail, fax or text
messaging.

In Britain, a highly controversial law was passed through Parliament three
months ago, forcing companies to install equipment allowing authorities to
intercept and decode any e-mail messages.

Hager on Sunday said the New Zealand legislation strongly resembled those
British laws.

Internet service providers and phone companies here would be required to
co-operate with intelligence agencies and police and install systems to
assist spying on their customers.

He said the Government also planned hacking laws that would allow police,
the Government Communications Security Bureau and Security Intelligence
Service to cover all forms of electronic communications and hack into
computer systems to view and copy people's files.

This would be achieved by amending the Crimes Act to make it illegal to
intercept e-mails or hack into computers, and then exempting surveillance
authorities, he said.

Mr Swain confirmed he intended introducing hacking laws.

"The whole point of the legislation is that at the moment there is no law
that says hacking is a criminal offence. That means anyone can read
anyone's computer and if they get caught they get away with it."

He was proposing penalties, including a two-year prison sentence for
offenders, but it made sense to exempt law enforcement and surveillance
agencies from the legislation.

"Once you get into cyber crime, then you have to raise the question about
whether the police and security services have got enough weaponry to go up
against the cyber terrorists or the cyber-criminals."

The controls would be stringent and authorities would need a High Court
warrant, like they needed for phone taps.

Mr Swain said any suggestion the changes were going to be "somehow sneaked
through" was rubbish.


------------------------------------------------
Private information is practically the source of
every large modern fortune.       -- Oscar Wilde
------------------------------------------------
erehwon () c4i org      http://www.c4i.org/erehwon/
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