Telephone tapping legal in Britain

Press, 29 August 1977, Page 2

Telephone tapping legal in Britain

NZPA London Telephone tapping and interception of mail—surveillance methods planned for New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service—have for years been part of the British bugging industry. In fact, anyone in Britain can legally tap a telephone or open a letter not intended for him, provided he has the permissidn of the Home Secretary—the equivalent of ( New Zealand’s Minister of Internal Affairs. But permission is not given lightly, according to a spokesman for the Home Office. The Home Secretary, who, is also responsible for the day-to-day activities of Britain’s security services, has absolute discretion. The Home Secretary (Mr Merlyn Rees) “grants his permission in limited cases,’’ a spokesman said. Until 1957, the Home Office published annual figures, which, in 1956, for example, showed that permission was

j given for 159 ups of tele-, phones, and that 183 mail! ] interceptions were author-1 jised. The figures became secret! Min 1957 after a Govemment- - appointed inquiry into secur- . ity services and surveillance j i methods. No-one is now saying whether the methods are be- - coming more or less popular. There was a downward trend in the last four years of pubj lished figures, however/ These were:— : In 1953: 202 telephones, 1 459 letters. In 1954: 222 and » 227. In 1955: 241 and 205. , In 1956: 159 and 183. ' The spokesman attributed ‘(the increased telephone tap-! f ping in 1954 and 1955 to an I upsurge in the number of /telephone subscribers. i i The figures showed that : the most prolific tappers and j interceptors in those years >,were the Metropolitan Police, : | the security services, the f Port of London Police, the , Home Office itself, and the Post Office. r Specific provision is made ■ for individual persons to i apply, but permission has been given rarely. ! Tapping of telephones and , interception of mail were at , their peak — for what the > spokesman called obvious I

reasons—-during World War I!II. | ■ | The Home Secretary’s tiat i covers England and Wales/ ;j Scotsmen and Northern Irish- • 'men wanting to listen in on ■ other people’s conversations • must apply to the Secretaries of State for Scotland, ; and for Northern Ireland. ! The New Zealand Govern-1 . ment’s move came in a week! 1 when Britons were acutely! ■ bugging-conscious. Earlier . last week, they read the rel. ort bv the Prime Minister , (Mr Callaghan) that Sir 1 Harold Wilson had not been . bugged when he was Prime Minister. 1 The ’’Daily Express.” ■!which originally said he had] i — because the security serf vice suspected some of Sir Harold’s colleagues of havt ing Communist affiliations — 1 is sticking to its story. s Last week, the Indepen- , dent Television network j showed its controversial film, • “The Case of Yolande Me--5 Shane,” the public debate about which centres as much s on the right of the police to > install secret television > cameras in private rooms as lit does on whether a daughter should or should not be Liable to persuade an ailing •ielderly mother to commit 51 suicide.