Police to investigate the spies

There is something more than slightly farcical about the police investigating the GCSB when the whole thing originated with the police's wish to surveil Kim Dotcom, but it is a step beyond an investigation by the PM's department.

I'm not holding my breath.

Jane Kelsey is asking us to look at the wider picture of Key's upcoming visit to Hollywood - which is the TPP.

Police investigating Green's complaint

Police should interview Prime Minister John Key his deputy Bill English and senior police officers as part of their investigation into the GCSB's illegal spying on Kim Dotcom, the Green Party says.

NZ Herald

2 October, 2012

Police this morning confirmed they would follow up on Green Party co-Leader Russel Norman's complaint over the Government Communications Security Bureau's (GCSB) unlawful spying on Mr Dotcom and his associate Bram van der Kolk.

Police Commissioner Peter Marshall said a senior police investigator would be appointed to assess the complaint and former Crown prosecutor Kristy McDonald QC had been appointed to assess and review any recommendations arising from the investigation.

She would then make her own recommendations to the Commissioner's office, Mr Marshall said.

Dr Norman was this morning pleased with the police decision and said the investigation should go right to the top.

"Senior police and Government ministers including Prime Minister John Key and his deputy Bill English should be interviewed in order for all the facts to be established."

Mr Key has ultimate oversight of New Zealand's spy agencies including the GCSB while his deputy Mr English last month signed an order to prevent the GCSB's involvement in the case being made public.

The GCSB began intercepting Mr Dotcom's communications late last year after a request from police.

But Dr Norman said police must hold spies to the same standards as other New Zealanders.

"They are subject to the laws of this land and must be held accountable by the police and the courts if they violate those laws.

"If police find the law has been broken they should prosecute."

Dr Norman also welcomed the decision to appoint Ms McDonald to provide independent oversight, "and police also need to ensure that no one involved in the case has a say in the investigation".

But Labour Leader David Shearer said the involvement of senior police and ministers meant the investigation should not be done by police.

"This is not about scapegoating the little guys at the bottom of the food chain. It goes all the way to the top. But there's no way the police are going to be able to look into the failures of oversight and the lines of accountability that go all the way to the Prime Minister's own office."

Mr Shearer said the police were now investigating the GCSB, "thanks in no small part to the actions of the New Zealand police".

"If that's not a farce, I don't know what is."

Mr Shearer said the police investigation came on top of the "whitewash" of the Neazor report and Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Kitteridge's "secret" review.

"We don't need a piecemeal mish-mash of reviews and reports, we need a proper independent inquiry."

Key: 'They're welcome to do it'

Speaking this morning before the police announcement, Mr Key said if police chose to investigate "they're welcome to do it".

However, he yesterday questioned the need for such an investigation.

"Why would police investigate something we know has occurred? But if they want to got and do that it's up to them."

"Whether that leads to charges of any sort again that's a matter for police. They have to determine whether there's a public interest and whether there is any wrongdoing and what it is."

Mr Key said he did not agree that the police's involvement in the case - where they gave an assurance to the GCSB that Mr Dotcom and Mr van der Kolk were foreign nationals - meant they were compromised on the issue.

"They will take the complaint seriously even if I see it as a political stunt, which it is, they will take it seriously and make their own decision what they're going to do with it."

Look beyond Kim Dotcom

Look beyond Kim Dotcom: Key’s Hollywood romance is about the TPP

Jane Kelsey

Scoop

2 October, 2012

The focus on the Kim Dotcom saga misses the deeper significance of Prime Minister John Key’s trip to Hollywood, said Professor Jane Kelsey from the University of Auckland.

“The entertainment industry is the principal driver of US demands for radical new intellectual property protections in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, currently under negotiation," Jane Kelsey said.

The next round of TPPA talks is in New Zealand in early December and (secret) new US proposals are expected to be on the table.

The intellectual property negotiators from the US Trade Representative’s Office are currently in Wellington putting pressure on the government to stop resisting the US demands and agree to its new text.

Hollywood is driving the US push for unprecedented extensions to intellectual property rights, carrying with them the further criminalization for breaches and massive cost increases for everyday Internet users. It also wants a ban on parallel imports.

The DotCom saga shows how far the US government will go to secure the commercial interests of the industry.

“The Hobbit saga was a forerunner of things to come if a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty is agreed and the US has its way”, said Professor Kelsey.

“Two years ago the mere threat to shift production of the Hobbit elsewhere was enough cause for the government to strip kiwi workers of their rights and protections under New Zealand law.”

Under a TPPA, the new intellectual property rules would be enforceable by the US. Worse, Hollywood’s extended ‘intellectual property rights’ would become investments protected under special rules, and industry players could enforce them directly against the government in private offshore investment tribunals.

Professor Kelsey predicts “the chilling effect would see the Hobbit saga pale into insignificance. This Prime Minister has shown a penchant for backroom deals. His current trip to the Hollywood studios no simple photo opportunity; it will be a time of intense lobbying by Hollywood to sell us down the river”.