Search and Surveillance Bill

[SPman]

So, the S&S bill was passed into law last week
Well done NZ - another slab of the illusion of freedom down the gurgler and nary a hiccup from the media

10 reasons we should never have accepted the Search and Surveillance Bill.
1: These spying powers are not just for the police - they can be extended to 70 other Government agencies. Why the hell should the Pork Board, for example, be allowed to break into your home and plant spy cameras?

2: The so called safe guards for the other Government agencies is that to use these powers will require the signature of the Minister. Seeing as John Key signed off on the new BMW's 4 separate times and claimed he still had no idea what he had agreed to, a Minister's signature as a safe guard is as flimsy as an umbrella is at protecting you from tsunamis.

3: The ONLY submission received in support of these dizzying new powers was from the Police, EVERY OTHER SUBMISSION was against it. How can we formulate public policy as sensitive as the power to spy on one another when the only support is from the ones gaining these new powers?

4: NZers have lost their right to silence, the Police can force you to answer questions on mere suspicion of you committing a crime now.

5: NZers now have to hand over any information to the Police not if they prove you are guilty of anything, but based on suspicion and if you refuse to provide this information, you can be jailed for 12 months.

6: The Police no longer have to get a search warrant based on evidence to spy on you, they only have to get a surveillance device warrant which can be obtained by any officer of any of the 70 Government agencies who can now ask for it based on no evidence at all, just their 'suspicion' that you might be involved in a crime. This surveillance device warrant can be obtained from just a bloody JP.

7: The Police and 70 other state agencies won't even need a warrant of any kind once you are arrested if they think further evidence is at another address. So you could be arrested on suspicion, and your car, workplace, friends homes etc etc can be searched without any warrant.

8: The powers are sold as being used against 'organized crime' but the definition by the Police of 'organized crime' is 3 people who know each other.

9: Even if the agency doesn't find what they are looking for as outlined in their suspicions, any evidence they do find can still be used. This means the spying is pure fishing expedition, the 'suspicion' used to obtain the spying warrant doesn't even need to match what they find.

10: These NZ spying powers by every Government agency go well beyond anything in Europe, Canada, Australia or even the US.

This isn't a left wing or right wing issue, this is about freedom from an all pervasive state.
Well done chaps....carry on...

[Scuba_Steve]

Time to start building a Guerilla army me thinks

[Sable]

Does anyone else find it odd how it wasn't mentioned in mainstream media barely at all? I was at quite a few protests for this and frankly find it fucking disturbing. Goodbye democracy and 'freedom'.

[Paul in NZ]

Time to start building a Guerilla army me thinks

Don't do it in the Ureweras - thats what got us into this mess....

[mashman]

My question is: Where they say it can be extended to other government agencies, does it specifically state New Zealand agencies, or just agencies? Just askin like, coz that could be kind of important.

[Zedder]

Time to start building a Guerilla army me thinks

No no Scube, it's called "training for jobs in the security industry".

[Max Preload]

Yes, yet another entirely disgusting erosion of our individual rights and privacy open to abuse.

[Usarka]

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benny Franklin.

[Scuba_Steve]

Don't do it in the Ureweras - thats what got us into this mess....

Na I'll be right, I'm white

No no Scube, it's called "training for jobs in the security industry".

Nice, might put you in charge of marketing then

[ellipsis]

....they had hoped that this bill would just sail through unhindered and that a national paranoia about home grown terrorists would quell any vociferous anti mouthings that us 'conspiracy theorists' have....but it actually just slid through on greased rails because it seems our populace has taken an extra large dose of apathy pills...enough to kill a large horse or a small country...not much came of the national crime of the century either, really...apart from Tama Iti being likened to Nelson Mandela....hahahahahahahaha...

[oneofsix]

....they had hoped that this bill would just sail through unhindered and that a national paranoia about home grown terrorists would quell any vociferous anti mouthings that us 'conspiracy theorists' have....but it actually just slid through on greased rails because it seems our populace has taken an extra large dose of apathy pills...enough to kill a large horse or a small country...not much came of the national crime of the century either, really...apart from Tama Iti being likened to Nelson Mandela....hahahahahahahaha...

Apathy pills or ignorance. The media kept rather quite about it. But as a nation we are a pathetic bunch and any time someone suggests we should get a tad upset there are plenty to shout that they are over reactive and its all ok providing you just put your head back in the sand.

[MSTRS:Me]

Good men have nothing to fear....yea right.

[Sable]

Heil Fuhrer Key

[FJRider]

Good men have nothing to fear....yea right.

Are there any left ... ???


I'm safe though ... I don't know 3 people ...

[SPman]

And just to add to the mess....

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the world, and an international study has just highlighted the fact:

A political bidding war between the main parties to prove who is tougher on crime has led to New Zealand having one of the world’s highest rates of imprisonment, an international study has found.
The comparative study of 11 countries’ justice systems found New Zealand’s is racist and punitive and imprisons people at a rate second only to the United States.

The United Kingdom Audit Office study looked at New Zealand, Australia, the US, France, Canada and the Netherlands among others.
It found New Zealand imprisoned offenders at a rate of 199 for every 100,000 of the population, second only to the US at 748. That is 25 per cent higher than England and Wales, and 33 per cent higher than Australia.
Between 2005 and 2008 New Zealand’s rate of imprisonment rose by 15 per cent despite the crime rate only rising by 4 per cent over the same period.

Now the agenda is clear - NZ wants to outdo the USA in imprisonment rates.........