October 17, 2013
Harawira slams spy law creep
Mana leader Hone Harawira is reminding New Zealanders that it is not just Maori who are being spied on.
Parliament this week had the second reading of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill, which will require phone and internet companies to provide government surveillance agencies access to their networks.
It complements a law passed in August allowing the Government Communication Security Bureau to spy on New Zealanders.
Mr Harawira says it’s telling that the bill came up on the sixth anniversary of the Operation Eight raids, where armed police used electronic surveillance to identify and arrest people who had taken part in training camps in Te Urewera.
"Six years ago in 2007 people didnt seem to care about the spying because they're just bashing a bunch of Maori in Ruatoki, but right now this government is passing legislation to bash the total population of New Zealanders from the Cape all the way down to Bluff and it's right that everybody should be concerned about it," he says.
If Labour wins the next election Mana will ask it to repeal the spy laws and negotiate with New Zealanders about the level of privacy they wish to maintain.
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