Two Christchurch free-trade activists, Aziz Choudry and David Small, have won court cases against the Security Intelligence Service and the police, respectively, for unwanted intrusions into their privacy. Throughout our history, Governments have brought the security services into play against political dissenters, defining them as a threat to the state. It is not just what we put over the e-mail that can be tracked. Under the proposed law, police and security agencies would also have the right to hack into a suspect's computer, accessing the most intimate details of his or her life. Complaints that the legislation is a big step towards a surveillance society have fallen on deaf ears.
Critics tend to be dismissed as paranoid.
However, the Government has not proved a case that the benefits of the new measure outweigh its costs in terms of privacy. No figures have been produced on how much crime is being committed via the computer or how many criminals are likely to be apprehended using the new powers. The legislation seems to be driven not from facts, but from a desire to keep in step with the FBI and other agencies who use similar measures. It may actually be to New Zealand's economic advantage to stay surveillance-free. International companies may be more likely to set up here if they are not being spied on.