Political

Interception of Communications Commissioner gets something right

I’ve been just a little – just a tiny, tiny tadge – critical of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, but this from the current incumbent is excellent, and follows another good move back in October:

Police should not be able to access journalists’ phone records unless they are given authorisation by a judge, a major report has recommended.

Sir Anthony May, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, said that the current Home Office rules for using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) did not “provide adequate safeguards to protect journalistic sources”.

The report follows a review of the use of Ripa surveillance powers which was ordered after it emerged that Scotland Yard had accessed the phone records of a journalist at The Sun in a bid to discover who had leaked information about the Plebgate row, which led to the resignation of Andrew Mitchell, the former chief whip.

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