Re: what's the big deal? (Score 1)

Whilst this has raised many concerns about privacy and civil liberties etc. This legislation is a case of ammending dated legislation to bring it into line with modern forms of communictaion. Prior to this there were a number of grey areas that were not clearly defined by applying laws relating to traditional public switched telephone networks which was governed by the Telecommunications Interception Act. Current communications such as E-mail, Instant Messaging and SMS etc weren't clearly defined as they are in the new legislation. Obtaining warrant for this legislation I believe requires convincing a judge that you have reasonable grounds to suspect the commission of an offence. Now when it comes to swearing out a warrant and using the powers contained in them in this case they are scrutinized heavily by the juduciary and not taken lightly. If people aren't doing the wrong thing then there will be insufficient grounds to obtain a warrant. If data is used that is found to be seized without lawful justification then it will not stand up in court. These laws aren't about Big Brother monitoring the activities of everyday people they are giving Law enforcement the tools prosecute genuine criminals.