who's watching you

Batmanuel · who's watching you

A couple have spoken of their shock after their local council spied on them to see if they had been cheating the school catchment system.
Tim Joyce and Jenny Paton and their children were put under surveillance by Poole Borough Council for more than two weeks without their knowledge.
Miss Paton said this kind of scrutiny was "hugely disproportionate".
The council has defended its actions, carried out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).
The council admitted using RIPA laws, which were designed to track criminals and terrorists, on six occasions in total.
Miss Paton, from Parkstone, said: "We all know there has to be scrutiny of applications but they could carry it out without resorting to anti-terror legislation and spying.
"The fact they are going to continue this is outrageous.
"I feel that this kind of scrutiny is hugely disproportionate to the circumstances to being able to scrutinise a school application.

They could have come back to us and asked for utility bills, they could have come back to us and asked for telephone bills instead."
The couple had applied to have their three-year-old daughter accepted into Lilliput CE First School - described by inspectors as "outstanding" and heavily over-subscribed - which one of their children already attends.
The couple has two addresses and they waited until after the council deadline for school applications had passed before moving from one address to the other.
But after two weeks of surveillance the couple were exonerated and their daughter was awarded a place.
Miss Paton admitted they had played the system.
She said: "We had some uncomfortable feelings about that, in that we had two addresses and we were able to do it.
Liberty's Alex Gask describes the use of powers as 'ridiculous'
"They [the council] produced a very detailed document of our movements.
"They weren't forthcoming with that until asked by a direct question and it took us by huge surprise.
"However, by the end of the meeting it was clear that the surveillance had shown we weren't lying."
Poole council has admitted that it has spied on families three times over suspected fraudulent school place applications. It said two offers of school places were withdrawn as a result.
RIPA legislation allows councils to carry out surveillance if it suspects criminal activity.
On its website, the Home Office says: "The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) legislates for using methods of surveillance and information gathering to help the prevention of crime, including terrorism."
'Ridiculously disproportionate'
Human rights pressure group Liberty called the spying "ridiculously disproportionate" and "intrusive".
James Welch, legal director for Liberty, said: "It's one thing to use covert surveillance in operations investigating terrorism and other serious crimes, but it has come to a pretty pass when this kind of intrusive activity is used to police school catchment areas.
"This is a ridiculously disproportionate use of RIPA and will undermine public trust in necessary and lawful surveillance."
Poole council said surveillance was carried out by a council officer who was fully trained and authorised to exercise RIPA powers, once it had decided it may be a criminal matter.
John Nash, the council's strategic director for children's services, said: "Where the main criteria for entry is to live in the catchment area then we have a duty to make sure, where there is a complaint or concern expressed by somebody else, that the application is fair."
Mick Brookes, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the council's actions appear "a little over the top".
He added: "I would have thought that if there was a doubt about where parents were living then the school would actually get in touch with them to check their address was right, not least because if there was an emergency

Not keeping you awake i hope, but the reason i find this so worrying is if local authorities have the power to set up intensive surveillance on law abiding people because they suspect a trivial thing such as this.

That means a bloody traffic warden jobsworth type can Binocular his way into your life,

how long will it be before it is compulsory for every home to be fitted with cctv in order to insure the correct behaviour in the public?
So, I hear you say, don't you think you maybe over reacting? If someone had told me that a family would and could be put under surveillance for just this sort of thing ten years ago, I would have asked them the very same question,
now I am not so sure,
it really is George Orwell's nightmare come true. it also begs the question who watches the watchmen
(see it is comic book related after all) Smile

If you want to know more about RIPA see the whatevercomics Blog
http://www.whatevercomics.com/#/blognews/4528040589
Which has a link to said official government website.

CatFang

As a friend of ours said recently:

"Hello, we're the government. The answer is a giant national database. Now what was your question?"

The saddest thing is that this is not even surprising anymore.

Also if the education system really was decent and equal then there would be no need for this kind of thing just to try and give your kids a good start. What with all the fuss about "hoodie gangs" you'd think the local council would be pleased where parents care enough about education to go to these lengths.

Oh - and the friend I quoted above. He educates his children at home.

norsefire1

i think batmanuel put it best when saying this is Orwell's nightmare come true. but then again in a way its worse, cos at least in 1984, the type of surveillance was central gov at work, was flawed and one could at least have the illusion of rebellion where as this, and things like it. bugs put in bins, mothers placeing chips in there child to keep an "eye" on then, the v chip telling us in what glasses we should drink are wine ect. all of this is a self regulating totalarism, a nanney state that is run by individuals, be it acting on there own or on be harlf of a group, local council, whatever. one or to to people at any one time who use tools such as seting the news agenda, the result is that people make there homes there own prison's. there no longer needs to be a big brother figure, people are quite willing to have freedom from choice all by there own.