The Best Way To Stop Spam: Kill The Margins >>
<< Do Emergency Calls Need More Technology Or...
 tdicon 

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Dec 2nd 2008 3:45am




Filed Under:
lawsuit, police, uk, wiretap


UK Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Journalist Police Wiretapped

from the protection-of-sources dept

An interesting and important ruling came out of the UK last week, as a journalist had a lawsuit against her thrown out by a judge, because it appears that much of the evidence came from police wiretapping her phone conversations with a source in the police department. The judge ruled that journalists have a right to protect their sources, and the police wiretaps were illegal. I'm not familiar enough with UK wiretapping laws to know if they needed a court's approval for the wiretap in the first place -- but on the whole this seems like a reasonable decision, as the case itself was quite troublesome. Basically, it sounded like the police wanted to plug leaks from within the department, and then bugged the journalist to find out who the leaker was, and with that info charged both the source and the journalist. That certainly seems like an abuse of police power to try to prevent future leaks, so it's good to see the court dismiss the whole thing.

9 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 4:56am

    Jump to Conclusions Mat

    Nice way to jump to conclusions. You have no details from the case and have admitted that, but automatically assume the worse.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Noah Buddy, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 5:33am

    Re: Jump to Conclusions Mat

    @AC - Did you even RTFA? Personally I came to about the same conclusion as Mike.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 5:41am

    Re: Jump to Conclusions Mat

    I get tired of other Anonymous Cowards ruining our good name with inane personal attacks and completely FAIL at trolling.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Luci, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 6:11am

    Re: Jump to Conclusions Mat

    What do you mean, 'assume the worst'? That's a comment you would need to back up. However, he didn't jump to conclusions. He inferred a possibility gleaned by reading the linked article. Having read the article, myself, I believe his inference is quite close to the actuality of this particular case.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 7:47am

    From another AC (because I don't take the time to fill in the other fields) who didn't read the linked article:

    I don't know UK law either, so I won't comment on that aspect, but I do agree with the idea behind the result.

    The police should work to close leaks in their department. Not just the police, but private business and other government agencies have official means of disseminating information. Except for the whistle blower situations we should respect the fact that these entities have information that they wish to be kept secret until such time as those with authority choose to disseminate it.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 8:15am

    Re: Re: Jump to Conclusions Mat

    Did you read any other articles? Wiretapping was not even involved. The guy's car was bugged. Do you take everything that Mike posts as fact? The fact is according to a quote I found on a BBC article the information was legally acquired.
    "It is noted that during the legal arguments the judge commented that the methods used to obtain the evidence were lawfully authorised by domestic law and that the actions of the police were proportionate."
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7739758.stm
    So my point is that Mike automatically jumped to the conclusion that the information was illegally acquired when the case was thrown out for a completely different reason.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Jesse, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 11:08am

    So this seems right, punish the leaker, not the journalist. Journalists should be free to pursue leads.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 2nd, 2008 @ 6:47pm

    Re: Re: Re: Jump to Conclusions Mat

    Oh - they bugged the car - well it's ok then.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 3rd, 2008 @ 4:56am

    FYI

    surveillance in UK is regulated by RIPA which says who has permission to do what sort of surveillance. If you want to know more, that's where to start looking.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
The Best Way To Stop Spam: Kill The Margins >>
<< Do Emergency Calls Need More Technology Or...
 tdicon 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Tuesday

4:02pm: Bad Day For Prenda Continues: Judge Rejects Stay, Adds $1k Per Day For Each Day They Don't Pay Up (11)
3:01pm: Angry Judge Tells Prenda To Stop Falsifying Alan Cooper's Signature; Calls It Fraud (23)
2:15pm: More Details Emerge On Key Legal Fight Over DMCA Abuse (12)
1:04pm: NYC Says Renting Out Your Place Via Airbnb Is Running An Illegal Hotel (18)
12:01pm: If You Think You Should Actually Own Products You Bought, Now Would Be A Good Time To Call Congress (106)
11:04am: Makers Of Nutella Force Fan Who Created World Nutella Day To Shut It Down [Updated] (41)
10:05am: Kitchen Nightmares Lawyers Threaten Infamous Samy And Amy If They Talk About Their Experience On The Show (23)
9:03am: If You're Going To Illegally Seize Citizens' Cell Phones, At Least Make Sure You're Grabbing The Right Ones (69)
7:41am: DOJ And Dept. Of Education To Colleges: Start Restricting Free Speech On Campus Or Kiss Your Federal Funding Goodbye (82)
5:37am: Retired Lt. Col.: Violent Media Has Bred A Generation Of Killers (92)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This