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protection.
The Interception of Communications Commissioner Sir Paul Kennedy
sent his annual report for April to December 2006 to Prime Minister
Gordon Brown last October. The PM's office has just published the
non-secret half of the report.
In it, Kennedy, an appeals court judge, reveals that 253,557
requests were made for data communications in that period, around
1,000 per day. But this figure includes requests for details of
calls made; not all of those requests will be for interception,
which gives authorities a recording of the content of calls.
The number of warrants issued for actual interception of calls
was 1,435, 1,333 by the Home Secretary and 102 by the Scottish
Executive.
Since 2004 the UK's 474 local authorities have been allowed to
ask for information about calls, though not the content of
calls.
"Local Authorities are restricted to acquiring communications
data for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime and mostly
this involves the investigation of offences by the Trading
Standards Service, Environmental Control and Housing Benefits
Departments," he said in his report. Kennedy said that only 122
authorities made a total of 1,694requests.
Out of the total quarter of a million requests for data or
interception, Kennedy said that there were 1,088 errors.
"This may seem a large number but indeed it is very small when
compared to the overall number of requests for communications
data," said Kennedy. "The number of errors equates to approximately
0.4% of the total."
As with past versions, Kennedy's report includes a secret annex
containing details which he believes should not be made public.
Kennedy also kept a secret information relating to warrants issued
by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland because the
possibility of giving information to those targeted would be
"prejudicial to the public interest", he wrote.
Kennedy touched on two controversial political issues in his
report. He said that he agreed with the intelligence community in
its opposition to the use of the product of interceptions in
court.
Human rights groups and prosecutors want the material to be used
in order to speed trials and reduce reliance on lengthy detention
without trials.
Kennedy, though, said that he was "firmly of the opinion that
the benefits of any change in the law are heavily outweighed by the
disadvantages".
He also said that the current exemption of MPs from any
interception or telecoms surveillance was wrong, as did his
predecessor. "In times like these it seems to me to be totally
indefensible," he said.
Kennedy also defended the use of telecoms surveillance, saying
that crime was prevented and solved by its use. "I have been
impressed during my first nine months in office by how interception
has contributed to a number of striking successes. It has played a
key role in numerous operations including, for example, the
prevention of murders, tackling large-scale drug
importations, evasion of Excise duty, people smuggling,
gathering intelligence both within the United Kingdom and overseas
on terrorist and various extremist organisations, confiscation of
firearms, serious violent crime and terrorism," he said.
"It is my view that during 2006 interception played a vital part
in the battle against terrorism and serious crime, and one that
would have not been achieved by other means. I am satisfied that
the intelligence and law enforcement agencies carry out this task
diligently and in accordance with the law."
