Govt
struggling to get support for GCSB bill
Despite
the Government likely to need New Zealand First's support to get the
bill through Parliament, it has made no approach to the party about
discussing changes that would make the legislation more acceptable.
24
June, 2013
The
Government is struggling to convince United Future and New Zealand
First to support its plan to extend the powers of the country's
electronic spy agency.
United
Future leader Peter Dunne says the Government Communications Security
Bureau (GCSB) should stick to spying on foreigners.
Mr
Dunne said he is worried about the blurringof the boundaries between
the GCSB and the Security Intelligence Service, which is responsible
for internal security.
"I
think that boundary needs to be clear and I don't think the GCSB
should under any circumstances have a role in any form of domestic
security operation."
Mr
Dunne says he will decide whether to support the legislation based on
what changes are made before it is referred back to Parliament.
New
Zealand First leader Winston Peters is more sympathetic to the
legislation, but says not enough work has been done on the plan to
ensure that the country has proper workable security measures to
defend the security of New Zealanders.
In
a submission on the bill, the New Zealand Law Society says the GCSB
will be changed from being a foreign intelligence agency to a mixed
foreign and domestic agency with the power to spy on New Zealand
citizens and residents in a way not previously contemplated.
The
society told the Intelligence and Security select committee at
Parliament on Monday there is no clear justification for the proposed
changes. It says it is inconsistent with freedom of speech and
freedom from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed under the
Bill of Rights.
Prime
Minister John Key argues that the bill simply clarifies what the GCSB
already does, but the Law Society does not accept that.
"I
do not believe it expands the mandate of the GCSB; I think what it
does do is clarifies fully in the law what has been the historical
behaviour of GCSB under what they believed was their legal authority.
"And
the bottom line is, that because of difficulties in interpretation in
the law, we need to clarify that law, but this is something that has
been going on for a very long period of time under previous
governments."
Labour
Party leader David Shearer says if his party leads the Government
after the 2014 election it will initiate a wide ranging review of the
country's intelligence services.
These
are the pertinent comments from the NZ Law Society
GCSB Downloaded Its Version Of The GCSB Bill From The Daily Blog
23
June, 2013
The
New Zealand Herald’s David
Fisher has revealed a smoke n dagger mystery on Twitter.
It
does appear the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)
downloaded its copy of the GCSB draft legislation from The Daily
Blog website.
When
you do a Google
search for the GCSB bill, the official copy that you can
download from the GCSB contains meta-data that suggests it was
actually sourced and downloaded by the GCSB from TheDailyBlog.co.nz.
This
weirdism was picked up by David Fisher on Saturday evening and put
out on his Twitter account: @DFisherJourno.
Now,
I must confess… I uploaded to The Daily Blog database in May what
has now become the GCSB’s official version of the
legislation. (check
out this
Google search of this content on The Daily Blog.)
I
did this after the draft bill was officially released by the New
Zealand Parliament. Sometime since then, it appears the GCSB needed
to locate a copy for its official website, and downloaded this from
The Daily Blog. Once the GCSB officer downloaded it, he/she then
uploaded it to the GCSB.
I
do realise The Daily Blog is a most excellent source of information
and analysis, but I never realised the GCSB had become so dependent
on us as a source of official information!
To
think what might have become of the proposed new legislation if I
had realised this sooner. Imagine how brilliant the Parliamentary
debate would have been if I had rewritten the draft into something
more agreeable prior to the GCSB downloading an amended brave new
version!!
Just
think, a complete rewrite of the intelligence parameters within
which the GCSB could operate, new robust oversight frameworks where
our electronic spy agency would be held to account… The list of
satisfactory reform would be comparatively brief but certainly
designed to meet both the National and Public Interest
Lost
opportunities aside, as the mystery deepens, we at The Daily Blog
are left wondering:
- Did the GCSB lose its original copy?
- Why did the GCSB download a copy from The Daily Blog and not from the New Zealand Parliament site?
- Was the GCSB trying to send us a message? If so, please decrypt it for us as I was never too flash on code… even cryptic crosswords prove to be beyond me!
Perhaps
The Daily Blog’s excellent audience can decipher how or why this
happened…
Law Society slams spy agency Bill
NZ Herald,
24 June, 2013
The
Law Society has made a stinging attack on proposed law changes
governing the GCSB spy agency, saying they effectively transform it
from a foreign intelligence agency to a domestic one without any
justification being given.
InternetNZ
has also raised serious concerns about the bill before Parliament,
saying its powers are too broad.
Submissions
on the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related
Legislation Bill closed on Friday, and hearings on it will begin
early next month.
The
Law Society submission, written by Rodney Harrison, QC, says: "It
is difficult to identify the pressing and substantial concerns that
the bill purports to remedy or address."
The
society recognised the critical role intelligence gathering played in
ensuring the security of New Zealand but "extensive and
pervasive amendments to the state's power of surveillance should not
be passed by Parliament lightly nor without the fullest extent of
debate possible. The Law Society does not consider that sufficient
justification has been provided for the proposed reforms".
The
bill allows for greater spying by the agency on New Zealanders in its
beefed-up role in cyber security of both government and private
sectors.
It
lets the GCSB spy on Kiwis when it is helping agencies such as the
Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the police to perform
authorised surveillance activities.
But
it also gives the GCSB legal authority to do anything the entity it
is helping is legally authorised to do.
Dr
Harrison says that could give a protected legal status to some
activities that might not otherwise receive it. "This outcome is
unacceptable and inconsistent with the rule of law."
He
says the bill effectively transforms the GCSB from a foreign
intelligence-gathering agency into an additional domestic spy agency.
"It
seems that the underlying objective of the legislation is to give the
GCSB powers it lacked previously: the power to conduct surveillance
on New Zealand citizens and residents. No explanation or
justification for the conferral of this power is given."
InternetNZ's
submission, in the name of acting director Jordan Carter, says it
supports the provisions of the bill that address cyber security of
NZ's information infrastructure.
But
it questions whether such a function should be housed alongside an
intelligence operation.
It
proposes compartmentalising the agency's operations to increase
public confidence in the cyber security function.
The
submission says the legislation lacks sufficient clarity about the
circumstances in which the communications of New Zealanders will be
gathered.
"A
broad reading renders the sum effect of the bill, as currently
drafted, as providing access to anyone's communications whether live
or stored, including internet communications."
It
says that although the ability of governments to collect
communications and metadata has advanced under the internet, human
rights such as privacy are treated as less important online than off.
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