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I distinctly recall cases decades ago (but after the passage of RIPA 2000) of councils trying to use investigatory powers on things like, (I think I'm rememberi
by hlandau 7y ago
I distinctly recall cases decades ago (but after the passage of RIPA 2000) of councils trying to use investigatory powers on things like, (I think I'm remembering this right) parents suspected of applying for schools outside their catchment area by lying about where they live. The hard examples of incredibly petty abuse by local councils, which actually happened, are out there if you want to go looking for them.
- tomatocracy 7y agoYes. Some councils paid private investigators to follow and photograph families to try to "prove" that they weren't really living in the catchment areas for certain schools but had just rented properties as a postbox address. So not electronic surveillance as such but powers that they were indeed using under RIPA 2000. I've tried pointing that out to people in the past (when the post Snowden legislation was being scrutinized by Parliament to try to encourage people to write to their MPs about it) and the reaction tended to be "see, they got caught and hardly any of them were doing it anyway so it proves that the system works". It's depressing.