Information privacy and electronic surveillance: policy networks and recent legislation in New Zealand

11 July 2004. Thanks to Tarn McDonald.


Information privacy and electronic surveillance: policy networks and recent legislation in New Zealand

Tarn McDonald

tarnmc@pardise.net.nz

 

Information privacy and electronic surveillance: policy networks and recent legislation in New Zealand. 1

Abstract 2

Introduction. 2

Definitions. 4

Literature Review.. 5

The Research Problem.. 8

Theoretical Framework. 9

The Panopticon. 10

Research Design and Methodology. 11

Ethical Concerns. 13

Difficulties Encountered and Sources of Error 14

Data and Analysis. 14

Policy network Approach. 14

Interviews. 15

Keith Locke. 15

Michael Bott 16

Hugh Wolfensohn. 17

David Farrar 18

Nicky Hager 19

W J Peoples. 21

Summary of Interviews. 22

Analysis of Key Documents. 24

Key Players and their Roles. 25

International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar (ILETS) 26

New Zealand Police. 28

Ministry of Commerce [Ministry of Economic Development] 31

Ministry of Justice. 32

Cabinet and the Social Policy Committee (SOC) 32

Telecommunications Network Operators and ISPs. 33

Privacy Commissioner 34

New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) 35

GCSB.. 35

Conclusions drawn from Policy Network Analysis. 36

Critical Policy Analysis. 40

Concerns and Recommendations for Further Research. 41

Abbreviations. 42

Timeline of events and legislation relevant to information privacy and surveillance. 43

References. 43

 

Abstract

This research investigates information privacy issues in New Zealand through an examination of the role of Internet service providers (ISPs) in privacy policy networks. In order to analyses this role, the progress of two items of legislation which would have a significant impact upon ISPs, the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill were considered. These items of legislation related to the interception requirements of surveillance agencies with regard to electronic data, and were to place requirements on ISPs to assist these agencies in the carrying out of their duties. Data was collected through interviews with subjects with knowledge of these networks, and through the consideration of key documents. Two theoretical frameworks were employed to analyse the data collected: policy network theory and critical policy analysis. New Zealand Police, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Commerce were shown to play important roles in the network, while ISPs were shown to play only a minor role. These networks were shown to be global in nature, and the role of the United States organisation ILETS (International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar) was identified as having played a highly significant role in the development of the legislation that was being researched.

 

Introduction

I first became interested in researching information privacy in New Zealand when a piece of legislation entitled the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill was introduced in 2002. This bill places a legislative obligation on telecommunications network operators to be able to intercept communications traffic using their network when authorised by a warrant issued to either the New Zealand Police, the Government Communications Security Bureau, or the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service. Furthermore, network operators and service providers are subject to a legislative ‘duty to assist’, that is, to provide reasonable assistance to the aforementioned surveillance agencies in the carrying out of their duties.[1]

 

Preliminary research suggested that this legislation bore similarities to numerous pieces of legislation enacted overseas, for instance the CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement) and USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Acts in the United States, and the RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) Act in the United Kingdom. These acts had been strongly criticized for their lack of regard for civil liberties in the context of privacy issues by international civil liberties watchdogs and in the case of the PATRIOT Act by the American Library Association (ALA).

 

The changing international climate in relation to security issues had provoked both legislative change and public debate on privacy, security and surveillance issues. Mainstream debate was polarised, with commentators tending either to argue in favour of the increased need for surveillance as protection against terrorism, or arguing that the right to privacy is fundamental and should not be compromised.  Librarians were among those who defended the right to privacy in the United States after the events of September 11, and in the weeks after those events the American Library Association released a statement proposing that libraries develop specific policies and procedures for dealing with requests from law enforcement officials that violate patrons’ privacy rights (Rogers and Oder 2001).

 

In the context of American Library Association’s concerns over the privacy implications of the PATRIOT Act in the United States, I sought to examine the implications of this Bill for privacy in New Zealand, not solely in the context of Libraries, as had been the case with the American Library Association, but in the broader context of the provision of information provision services in New Zealand.

 

Because this legislation directly involved ISPs, I elected to focus this research in this area in order to determine the impact this legislation might potentially have on information provision in New Zealand. An examination of this legislation would serve as a useful inroad into the issue of information privacy in New Zealand, and how it was being treated by information providers.

 

Since their arrival towards end of the 1980s ISPs have come to play a pivotal role in controlling access to information for the increasing numbers of people and organisations who rely on the Internet as an important tool for communication and the provision of information.  Yet relatively little research has been undertaken which analyses their role or places it in a socio-political context. The exponential growth in recent years in the use of network and information technologies, in both the public and private spheres, has led to a changed and increasingly important role for those involved in the provision of telecommunication and network services. This new role has resulted in a number of as yet unresolved conflicts between the legal and social frameworks in existence prior to the rapid introduction of these new technologies, and their application in a modern context. The situation has been further complicated in New Zealand by the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, begun in 1987. This has resulted in a number of legal, social and ethical concerns rising to the fore, which reflect the different rate of change in the technological and socio-political spheres. Issues that have arisen include concern over an ISP’s responsibility for information which it stores or transfers, and over the legal relationship between an ISP and its users (Kerr 2001). While these are becoming increasingly important social issues, debate has remained on the fringe of the public arena, and little academic research has been conducted in this field. Geoff Huston, chief scientist in the Internet area for Telstra, has argued that “perhaps it is time for the debate regarding the role and responsibilities of an ISP to be placed on the agenda of public policy makers” (2002).

 

The main objective of this research was to examine the issue of information privacy in New Zealand by analysing the role ISPs had played and were playing in the development of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill and its progress through parliament. As I proceeded with the project and began to complete interviews and analyse documents collected, I was drawn towards a quite different understanding of the policy networks being considered, and of the key players involved in these. The data I had collected began to suggest that in the case of the legislation I was focusing on, New Zealand ISPs were relatively minor players in a global policy network of law enforcement agencies with origins in the United States.  Rather than examine the role of ISPs in isolation (an approach which would have led to a distorted view of their role in the process), I chose to attempt a broader analysis of the development of the pieces of legislation that I had been considering as an inroad into understanding the role of ISPs. It became apparent that in order to truly understand the role ISPs had played in the development of legislation it was necessary to map out the wider networks in which ISPs had played an important but by no means pivotal role.

 

It is hoped that this study will prove useful for information professionals, and serve to foster debate in this area. Librarians and other information professionals must be aware of these changes as they will affect the roles and responsibilities of the profession as information provision moves from the use of print to digital resources, and librarians are increasingly required to confront legal and ethical issues on a regular basis. Unless the ethical and legal issues that the provision of digital information services raises are addressed and policies formulated, libraries increasingly run the risk of failing in their role. As information professionals and stakeholders in this debate, librarians and information professionals should be actively concerned with the development of information provision policy and the issues surrounding it, and consider becoming more actively involved in the policy making process.

 

Definitions

 

An Internet Service Provider or ISP is “an organization that provides access to the Internet” (The Internet Glossary and Quick Reference Guide 1998).

 

Telecommunications refers to all forms of communications across a distance, including telephony and computer networking. In the context of ISPs, the terms is used to refer to email, Internet based activities and IP telephony.

 

Privacy is defined differently by different groups, and as one of the goals of this research is to determine how this concept is defined in order to uncover power structures in the policy discourse, a definition will not be given.

 

Policy Networks are made up of the systems of actors and structures that shape policy in a particular sector or related to a particular issue. Marin and Mayntz (1991) state that Policy Networks “are explicitly defined not only be their structure as interorganizational arrangements, but also by their function – the formulation and implementation of policy” (1991: 16).

 

Surveillance Agencies are Law Enforcement Agencies granted powers of interception and surveillance. In New Zealand these are New Zealand Police, Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau.

 

Literature Review

Privacy issues have become increasingly important as the volume of personal information that is stored and transmitted electronically has increased (Marx 1999). Legislation enacted in various Western countries over the last 3 decades (Bennet and Grant 1999) has sought to protect the rights of citizens to privacy, while at the same time the surveillance capabilities of modern technology and socio-political trends have resulted in an increasing body of legislation that seeks to define the state’s right to surveillance, usually for the purpose of investigation by the police, intelligence services or other state agencies. There are in essence two conflicting positions, one seeking to protect the right of citizens to privacy and one arguing for increased state powers of surveillance in order to protect society from internal and external threats. The events of September 11 2001 have provided fuel for groups seeking to increase state powers of surveillance and interception, and conferred upon these attempts a sense of urgency previously unseen.

 

This research addresses privacy issues in the context of law enforcement and electronic surveillance, though this is only one aspect of the privacy debate. This review looks at the literature produced on the subject of privacy in the context of telecommunications, focusing on material produced in New Zealand. Also, research in the field of policy analysis as a whole is examined in an attempt to overcome the lack of any strong theoretical or methodological basis to current privacy research.

 

Little has been produced in terms of independent academic research into privacy and telecommunications in New Zealand. However, a wealth of information has been produced by government departments and professional bodies, mostly in the form of reports and policy analysis.

 

In 1992 the Ministry of Commerce released a report entitled Telecommunications and Privacy Issues (Longman Associates 1992). The stated purpose of the report is “to identify the personal privacy implications associated with telecommunications and to provide a methodology for analyzing the resulting issues”. It discusses what privacy means in a legalistic framework and situates the debate on privacy in the context of international law as well as analysing technical considerations.

 

While covering the historical situation in this area in detail up until 1992, the fact that it was produced prior to the explosion in the growth of the Internet and the appearance of the World Wide Web detracts from the use of the research in considering Internet privacy issues. It is stated that “most of the activities outlined in this report on the telecommunications industry do not necessarily infringe individual privacy at the present time; but they have the potential to do so in the future” (pp. 10-11).

 

In February 2002 the Law Commission published a report entitled “Electronic Technology and Police Investigations: Some issues”. This report places New Zealand legislation in the context of that of other countries and raises the issues of the cost of furnishing assistance to ISPs to provide interception services, as well as whether ISPs in New Zealand should be subjected to a duty to modify their current systems to enable them to comply effectively with government interception requirements (as is proposed in the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill). It provides useful material on the government’s development of privacy policy  and refers to a decision of the cabinet policy committee on 12 December 2001 to legislate to “impose a ‘duty to assist’ on all telecommunications service providers to provide reasonable assistance to Police, Government Communications Security Bureau and Security Intelligence Service in executing an interception warrant, within their technical capacity and on a cost recovery basis” (p. 13). It also states that  “The Cabinet Policy Committee on 12 December 2001 agreed on a policy for the imposition of interception capability requirements and the incidence of the cost and there is no point in the Law Commission discussing the matter further” (2002:15).” The study also concludes that with regard to the interception of communications “there are no bill of rights implications” (p. 18). The value of this research lies in these insights and its situating of policy change in an international context.

 

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has produced a number of reports related to Information Privacy and Surveillance issues, including a report on the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill and the Crimes Amendment Act (no.6). The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has also recently authored a Telecommunications Privacy Code, the development of which would be worthy of study in its own right.

 

The Internet Society of New Zealand (Internet New Zealand), whose membership is largely representative of ISPs, authored a submission on the Draft Telecommunications Privacy Code published in March 2002. It is critical of aspects of the Privacy Commissioner’s recommendations regarding the development of a Telecommunications Code, and argues for the necessity of customer data retention in order to successfully and economically provide services. In fact, this report argues that data retention should be continued for the explicit purpose of aiding government agencies in their investigations.

 

A small body of material, mostly in the form of newspaper articles and press releases, existed in relation to the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill. However, due to the stage in the legislative process at which this bill was situated, little had been written specifically on this. In the course of researching the bill, it was discovered that a related piece of legislation, the Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6) was currently progressing through Parliament. Initially read in 1999, the Crimes Amendment Bill (no.6) included a number of updates to the Crimes Act 1961, including a number of new offences relating to computer crime. On 7 November 2000, a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP 85) was introduced, which added a number of further amendments to the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6). Sometimes referred to as the anti-hacking bill, the bill achieved a measure of public notoriety for the exemptions it gave in clause 19 to surveillance agencies, with regards to the new offence created in SOP 85 of remotely accessing a computer system. The bill also altered the provisions for police relating to interception warrants; by extending the definition of ”private communication” to include electronic communications including emails and faxes, these new technologies were now part of the range of communications Police had the lawful authority to intercept.  A much larger volume of information was available on this bill, which had been before the select committee in 2001, than the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill.

 

A number of articles on the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) and SOP 85 appeared in major newspapers and computer news websites. Hager (2000) has written the only comprehensive account of the genesis of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85, and linked the origins of the Act to an international lobby group called ILETS (International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar). He also mentions in this article the possibility of changes being made to the Telecommunications Act. Brislen also discusses ILETS in a 1999 article discussing the attempts of this group to lobby the New Zealand Government through the New Zealand Police. A brief article appeared in PC World (Palmer 2002: 18) earlier this year which describes the role ISPs would play in the interception of communications should the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill come into force.

 

Much of the material produced in relation to the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) and SOP 85 was in the form of reports for the purpose of developing and influencing policy and legislation. Little research, save that of Hager, has been undertaken which attempts to analyse the networks that led to the development of this legislation in New Zealand, nor to locate these networks in a broader context.

 

Akdeniz (2000) describes the interaction between the UK Government, ISPs and the association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in the development of ISP interception policies and systems in the late 90s in the UK. The methodology employed in this study is somewhat unconventional, in that rather than collecting research data, the researchers developed a “privacy letter” (Bohm and Akdeniz 1998) which they provided to service providers to use to determine answers to such questions as:

 

Does your organisation take part in the Association of Chief Police Officers, Internet Service Providers & Government Forum or has it been aware of such discussions?

 

What sort of monitoring or backup systems are used and for how long do you keep personal data (as explained above)? Is [insert name of the ISP] capable of actively monitoring all IP traffic from a particular user and if this is done for what purposes? (Bohm and Akdeniz 1998)

 

This research provides useful background material detailing the role of ISPs in UK society, and their part in government interception schemes. Only a handful of responses to the letter have been published, and these responses have not been systematically analysed nor any conclusions drawn from them.

 

While very little work has been done that attempts to analyse the power structures and social constructions that determine the nature and terms of the privacy debate (what Shields refers to as critical policy analysis), analyses of other areas illustrate the potential of using this perspective to examine power structures and discursive practices.

 

Drawing on the work of Scheurich, Marshall (1999) argues that “to be employed and to earn contracts, policy analysts must conduct studies that inform the policy debates raised in arenas of power. Thus, dominant values determine which are the relevant, significant questions, issues, and answers”. For her, “bias, power, and values drive the identification and legitimation of a problem and the methods seen as useful for studying and solving it.”

 

Jones et al. (1998) argue that “despite the increasing proliferation of policy texts, there does not seem to be a great deal of attention paid to language as the ‘stuff’ of which those texts are made” (p.150). A textual approach is also pursued by Mukherjee (2000), who analysed the language and discursive contexts of Caller ID proceedings in the United States of America. She concluded that “attention to names, frames, and arguments revealed how political language worked to harness a specific knowledge of telecommunications privacy concerns, and to legitimize particular privacy claims over others.”

 

More recent literature has addressed the trends that have arisen since September 11. For instance Nelson (2002) writes that “the events of September 11 upset the balance between the spheres of individual privacy and the common good in a unique way. The rhetoric of the common good and the necessity of surveillance and information gathering coincide in legislative efforts to deter and punish terrorism. Because of the events of September 11, new technology, including innovations such as FaceIt and Carnivore software (Kerr 2000), has been subsumed by a new rhetoric. No longer is new technology necessarily viewed as a threat to individual privacy; rather, it is perceived as serving the common good and protecting freedom as reflected in legislative reactions such as the USA PATRIOT Act.” Nelson goes on to argue that: “More problematic, the rhetoric of technology after September 11 seeks to persuade us that technology is universal in its invasion and objective in its application. In short, the rhetoric of public policy after September 11 encourages us to believe that the preservation of freedom and the common good requires our universal acquiescence to technological invasions of privacy. Although surveillance is a useful and necessary aspect of criminal investigation, new developments in surveillance technology, as well as novel justifications of it, pose a unique public policy concern.”

 

In summary, there exists a wealth of material dealing with the legal and ethical implications of new surveillance legislation in New Zealand, yet there is a dearth of material which seeks to systematically analyse the broader political networks and structures through which legislation important to the future of information provision in New Zealand is being created.

 

The Research Problem

The original goal of this project was to address the lack of research into the political structures and policy networks that have been and are important in the development of surveillance legislation by analysing the role ISPs had played in policy networks in New Zealand. The question which this research sought to answer was formulated as follows:

 

How have ISPs influenced and been influenced by privacy policy networks in New Zealand?

 

The privacy policy network referred to in the above question refers to networks of organisations involved in the development of public policy and legislation with privacy implications. In the case of this research, the focus has been on privacy of communications and surveillance, rather than any other privacy networks which ISPs have also been involved in (e.g. concerning Spam). Due to the exploratory nature of the research, a hypothesis was not formulated. The original intent was to limit the research to the national networks, and consider broader global forces which have impacted upon the development of policy to a much lesser extent.

 

The research question formulated above suggests a number of sub-problems which were also to be investigated during the research process:

 

i.            What influence does Government, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the New Zealand Internet Society have on policies affecting ISPs?

ii.            What influence do ISPs have on the shaping of Public Policy?

iii.            Who are the key players involved in privacy policy networks?

iv.            What other actors are involved in privacy policy networks?

v.            What communication channels are involved in privacy policy networks?

vi.            What consultation processes are involved?

vii.            How do different actors define privacy?

 

The main objectives of the research were identified as:

 

·        To determine what roles different organisations have played in the development of public policy relating to Internet privacy issues in New Zealand, and what roles they see themselves playing in the future.

 

·        To identify how these organizations define privacy, and how this definition relates to other organisational perspectives.

 

Theoretical Framework

 

The framework adopted in this research was based on two main paradigms: policy network theory and critical policy analysis informed by the work of Michel Foucault. Policy network theory was used to describe and analyse the networks of communication and influence that have influenced recent developments in surveillance legislation in New Zealand, while critical policy analysis was used to examine and criticise the power relations existent in these networks.

 

Policy network theory has its origins in French structuralism though it shares some theoretical assumptions with systems theory and cybernetics (Kenis and Schneider 1991). It attempts to understand policy development processes through analysis of the inter-organisational networks of actors that shape policy, rather than through the analysis of independent hierarchies, an approach which was previously the dominant model in policy analysis and research.

 

Marin and Mayntz (1991) offer a definition of policy networks which states that a policy network possesses the following properties:

 

“being anchored in policy sectors; requiring collective action; composed of corporate actors; structured as inter-organisational relations; predominantly informal and horizontal, but not without asymmetric interdependencies, which means power relations; functionally defined by the formulation and implementation of policy; without stable central or hegemonic actors; involving not too many participants; and characterized by strategic interaction and a predominance of antagonistic cooperation or mixed-motive games” (1991: 18)

 

Kenis and Schneider (1991) argue that a “decentralized concept of social organization and governance” is essential to the policy network perspective. A policy network may be centred on a sector, such as telecommunications, or an issue, such as privacy in telecommunications. The actors that constitute the policy network will include members of the private and public sectors. Public interest groups may play a role: Dense (1997), for instance, has described the involvement of advocacy groups in United States telecommunication policy debates.

 

Policy network theory is used in this research project to build an historical and contextual picture of the development of surveillance legislation in a concrete organisational, cultural, and political context. Its use allows the development of an understanding of key players in networks, and their interactions, both formal and informal.

 

Coupled with a concrete analysis of the specific structures through which legislation is developed is a critical analysis of the power structures and discourses which shape the development of policy and a study of the broader context in which these structures exist. In order to perform a critical examination of policy networks, an approach is utilised which employs the theoretical paradigm of critical policy analysis.

 

Critical policy analysis may be described as policy analysis informed by post-structuralism and critical theory. Critical policy analysis is used to analyse the power structures and social constructions that determine the nature and terms of the privacy debate, and a post-structuralist theoretical framework will be employed to analyse the power relationships and discursive practices which are present in the legislative development process. Policy network theory provides a structural analysis of policy processes in the telecommunications industry; critical policy analysis will provide a post-structuralist critique of this analysis.

 

Jones et al. (1998) argue that critical policy analysis should analyse textual practices, as authors such as Mukherjee (2000) have later done. Mukherjee found that “attention to names, frames, and arguments revealed how political language worked to harness a specific knowledge of telecommunications privacy concerns, and to legitimize particular privacy claims over others.” This textual approach is used to provide a meta-analysis of the data collected through the research.

 

Howarth (1998) argues that “although discourse theorists acknowledge the centrality of theoretical frameworks in determining their objects and methods of research, they are concerned to avoid theoretical concepts subsuming the empirical cases they are investigating”. This idea, drawn from the work of a number of post-structuralist thinkers including Foucault, will be used to guide the research.

 

The Panopticon

 

As part of this critical policy analysis ideas drawn from Foucault’s work on surveillance are used; the structural elements in Foucauldian thought lend themselves readily to integration into a policy network approach. One of the key ideas developed by Foucault is that of panopticism. Foucault identifies the panopticon as a key theoretical figure whose appearance in 1787 marked the arrival of a new technique of power, and a new system of social control. The Panopticon, an architectural model designed by Jeremy Bentham, was devised as a new method of controlling prison populations through a system of physical observation dependent upon this architectural model.

 

The panopticon is an annular prison building, composed of 2 functional parts – center, and periphery. Inmates are housed in the periphery, in individual cells which are separated from each other and have windows facing out from the periphery and into the center. At the center lies an observation tower, from which guards can watch the activities of inmates through the windows facing towards the tower, lit up by light from the outer windows. The key to this technique of control lies in the fact that prisoners cannot see into the central observation tower and thus cannot know at any time whether or not they are being watched, which leads to a new kind of discipline dependent upon the visibility of the subject and the invisibility of the controller:

 

“Each individual, in his place, is securely confined to a cell from which he is seen from the front by the supervisor; but the side walls prevent him from coming into contact with his companions. He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication. The arrangement of his room, opposite the central tower, imposes on him an axial visibility; but the divisions of the ring, those separated cells, imply a lateral invisibility. And this invisibility is a guarantee of order. If the inmates are convicts, there is no danger of a plot, an attempt at collective escape, the planning of new crimes for the future, bad reciprocal influences; if they are patients, there is no danger of contagion; if they are madmen there is no risk of their committing violence upon one another; if they are schoolchildren, there is no copying, no noise, no chatter, no waste of time; if they are workers, there are no disorders, no theft, no coalitions, none of the distractions that slow down the rate of work, make it less perfect or cause accidents” (Foucault 1977, 200).

 

This technique of control, Foucault argues, becomes a form exhibited in other environments beyond the prison: schools, hospitals, factories, and in fact throughout the fabric of society itself. Power is thus “visible and unverifiable”. One knows one may be being watched, but one never knows at any given moment whether one is. This theory is used to provide a critical analysis of the networks described in the earlier phase of the research.

 

Research Design and Methodology

 

When this research was begun, it was initially intended that the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill would provide an organising theme around which to base a study into the role of ISPs in privacy policy networks. However, preliminary research into the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill revealed that little material was available in terms of documentation, due to the early stage in the legislative process at which it was situated. It had originally been hoped that documentation related to this bill would provide useful information regarding potential subjects to participate in this study; this was not the case. However a related piece of legislation, Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6) and SOP 85, was discovered which also dealt with the issue of electronic surveillance. This bill had already been through the Select Committee stage of the legislative process and submissions had been received on it. These submissions provided a list of interested groups and individuals who had been actively involved in the legislative process, and thus were identified as participants in the privacy policy network which I was researching. Other participants were identified through a consideration of key documents, and as an ongoing process as the research developed and more information became available. Subjects were selected based on whether they had played a significant role in policy networks or had possessed significant knowledge of these networks. Interviewing was selected as the method of research because it would allow the subjects more freedom to express their experiences and knowledge than a survey, and it was anticipated that this method would provide a higher quantity and quality of data.

 

In order to develop a picture of ISPs involvement in this network, a research process was developed which examined the passage of these two bills through parliament. The methods adopted to examine this progress constituted a combination of the examination of key documents, mostly in the form of reports and submissions, and interviews with informants involved in the legislation at various contact points.

 

Data collection was divided into three phases:

 

Table 1: Data Collection Schedule

 

Phase One

Preliminary Data Collection

Collection and analysis of available documentation, including select committee submissions and reports.

Consultation with actors. Development of a list of interview subjects.

 

Phase Two

 

Primary Data Collection

 

Conduction of interviews prepared for using material gathered in phase one.

Phase Three

 

Follow-up Data collection and Analysis

 

Further data collection in the form of documents and analysis of collected data.

 

Phase one involved the selection of interview participants and contacting and corresponding with them. Participants were chosen from both the public and private sectors, and an attempt was to select a sample representative of the involvement of groups situated at various points in the political spectrum. Preliminary research was conducted where possible by examining parliamentary documents relating to the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) and SOP 85.

 

An initial strategy for each interview was developed by examining the documentation researched in phase one and the interviews themselves were carried out in phase two. Each interview was recorded and subsequently transcribed. Interviews were loosely structured, but were focused upon obtaining information relating to the role the participant’s organisation had played or was playing in the passage of the legislation concerned. Participants were also invited to comment on their perceived understanding of the policy networks involved, and who they identified as key players. Information gathered earlier in this phase from participants such as Bott was used to identify other potential participants whose role was not apparent from initial consideration of documents.

 

Questions that were asked of all participants included:

 

·        What is the interviewee’s position within the organisation?

·        What are his/her responsibilities and roles within the organisation?

·        What part has he/she played on committees, and to what extent has he/she played a role in the development of submissions?

·        What role has the organisation played in the passage of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill?

·        What role have ISPs played in this same process?

·        What consultation processes has the organisation been involved in?

·        How has this role changed over time?

·        Who do you identify as key players in the development of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill?

·        What roles have these key players played?

·        How is privacy defined or viewed by your organisation?

 

Initial questions were aimed at ascertaining the individual’s role within the organisation, and subsequent questions at determining the organisation’s role within the network as a whole. Participants were encouraged to describe their perception of the policy networks involved, but also to provide information to substantiate these perceptions based on the interactions between groups that they had personally been involved in or observed. Though the above questions were asked to all participants, some were also tailored to elicit information from participants that would confirm (or contradict) information obtained from documents of other interview subjects. As the project developed, so did the questions being put to participants. Thus it was only possible, for instance, to ask participants whether they had been involved with or knew of the existence of ILETS later in the project.

 

Phase three involved the analysis of data according to the theoretical perspectives outlined above. In the course of carrying out the interviews I received a number of documents from Nicky Hager[2], which had been obtained through an Official Information Act request. These provided a great deal of useful information which was verifiable and substantiated the claims of a number of participants.

 

Ethical Concerns

 

Because the focus of the research is in itself concerned with a problem with ethical dimensions, particular care was necessary in the undertaking of the project. Interviews were not anonymous, and responses have been attributed to participants. Consent forms were used to explicitly state this, and verbal clarification occurred before each interview. An open dialogue with participants was fostered, so that they understood the research process and their role in it.

 

Difficulties Encountered and Sources of Error

 

A difficulty encountered in this initial selection phase involved the willingness of those critical of the bill to speak out against it, countered by a reluctance by many of those involved in creating and developing the bills to speak out in defence of them. A number of key players either declined to be interviewed, failed to respond to correspondence, or denied involvement. The Officer of the Privacy Commissioner declined to participate in the study, though employees provided useful advice in terms of the involvement of the organisation in the process as a whole. Paul Swain failed to respond to correspondence, and later staff communicated that he had not played an important role in the legislative process. The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) failed to respond to written correspondence, and contact by telephone proved similarly fruitless. In a number of cases (including the Law Commission and some ISPs) key individuals who had a strong involvement in the policy process had subsequently left the organisation, and little institutional knowledge of involvement was retained. Identifying participants was also complicated by the time period involved, the change in government in 1999, and the difficulty of identifying individuals within organisations who were qualified to talk on the material being researched.

 

Because of the fact that organisations were being studied, and that respondents were individual actors, a degree of discrepancy between the individual’s perspective and that of the organisation is to be expected. A further difficulty that occurred was of organisations being required to tell a particular side of a story, and in some cases only having knowledge of the network as it affected them.

 

Obtaining a representative sample proved difficult, and making contact with individuals within ISPs proved impossible. Documentation proved more useful in obtaining data relating to the involvement of ISPs themselves, and to the involvement of other participants in the network.

 

Data and Analysis

Policy network Approach

 

Following Dorner (2000), analysis has focused on identifying and describing:

 

·        The types of communication (formal, informal) engaged in by network entities

·        Core organisations within the network

·        Structures and channels of communication in use in the network.

 

Data has been collected from two main sources; from interviews and from key documents. Additional information was been provided by key informants.

 

Possible core organisations were initially identified by listing organisations that were described as playing a key role in the policy process by more than one participant. Documentation was then utilised to confirm statements as to the importance of core organisations given by participants. The analysis below thus provides an outline of the participants’ understanding of the core organisations involved in the network, followed by a comparison of this data with that collected from documents.

 

Information gathered in interviews related mostly to the identification of core organisations, and a much lesser volume of information was gathered which related to the types of communication engaged in, and the structures and channels of communication used. Documentation provided more information about consultations and meetings that occurred throughout the policy process than the interviews themselves.

 

Interviews

 

Interviews were conducted with the following participants:

 

·        David Farrar – Secretary, Internet New Zealand

 

·        Michael Bott – Chairperson New Zealand Council of Civil Liberties

 

·        Keith Locke – Green MP, Member of the Foreign Affairs and Defence & Trade Select Committees.

 

·        Hugh Wolfensohn - Director of Strategic Policy and Corporate Services, Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)

 

·        Nick Hager – Researcher

 

·        W J Peoples – Crime Policy and Projects Officer,  NZ Police

 

What follows is a summary of the key points made and views held by interview subjects.

 

Keith Locke:

 

Keith Locke played the role of non-voting member on the Law and Order Select Committee, as well as being involved in liaising with civil liberty networks.

 

Locke was critical of the legislation and the parliamentary processes surrounding its passage. He noted that a large number of submissions had been made in regard to Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) and SOP 85, and that these were overwhelmingly critical, largely with regard to the implications of the bill for privacy in New Zealand. Locke also argued that these critical submissions, including those of the privacy commissioner, were largely ignored. He spoke of the Government’s inability to strike a necessary balance between justice and civil liberty, arguing that the sacrifice of not apprehending 100% of criminal activity was a requirement for the protection of civil liberties in the context of the issue of surveillance. He spoke of the lack of any strong evidence in favour of the likely merits of introducing this new legislation, and of pressure to conform to international trends. While he identified the increased move towards the use of surveillance as having its origins prior to September 11th, he perceived a trend towards the stepping up of surveillance in response to these events and due to a need to conform to United States policy. He saw the events of September 11 as being used to legitimise the attempts of United States law enforcement agencies to increase their powers of surveillance, though groups such as the National Security Agency (NSA) had been gearing up towards increasing surveillance powers for some time, encouraged by the potential provided by emerging technologies such as the Internet.

 

Locke identified the Police as the key players in the shaping of these two pieces of legislation, and brought up their attendance at International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar (ILETS) conferences. In terms of international influence, Locke mentioned the overseas counterparts of New Zealand agencies, in particular those of Europe and the United States. In his opinion none of the legislation had originated in government or cabinet, but had developed through police attempting to persuade the Ministry of Justice to fall in line with overseas developments in law enforcement. He also mentioned a degree of diplomatic influence from the United States in particular, and noted the important role that other nations belonging to the alliance that he referred to as “The Anglo-Saxon top 5” (The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) had played in the development of this legislation. Locke believed that the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was involved largely as an attempt to avoid operational constraints being placed on them, which would have occurred had the GCSB bill not been passed prior to the Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6) SOP 85. Locke identified that the three pieces of legislation were very closely tied together, and had been from the start.

 

He indicated that ISPs were not involved to a great degree in the whole process, and were largely accommodating of police requirements, though some questions of cost were raised. Only one Auckland ISP (plaNet) was seriously concerned about the legislation.

 

Locke spoke of a lack of public awareness on these and other civil liberties issues in general, and of the small number of people involved in civil liberty causes. He argued that when people were made aware of these issues they were generally quite concerned. Locke viewed privacy as a right, which would be seriously undermined by this legislation, and argued that the potential for political abuse of this legislation was significant. Locke also viewed adequate privacy safeguards as a being beneficial to New Zealand businesses.

 

Michael Bott

 

Michael Bott is chairperson for the Wellington Council of Civil Liberties.

 

Bott stated that with regards to this legislation, the council operated as a lobby group and liaised with media to some extent. The organisation’s involvement with the legislation began when they were informed of the bill by a government agency; subsequently they liaised with both GOVIS (the Government Information Systems Managers' Forum), and the Department of Internal Affairs on these matters.

 

Bott identified the United States government, the New Zealand government, the Department of Internal Affairs, GOVIS, and the NZSIS as the key players in the development of this legislation. He regarded the United States as having a direct influence on both international and domestic politics. The NZSIS were seen as having links with their counterparts overseas, and as being influenced by international trends in law enforcement. ISPs were not identified as playing a significant role in the development of legislation.

 

Bott spoke of the chilling effect that September 11 has had on human rights, and of an ‘end justifying the means’ mentality which had led to an erosion in basic human rights for the sake of security. He spoke of this as a worldwide trend which has parallels with the world described in Orwell’s 1984 where an offshore enemy is used to justify increasing intrusions by and expansions of the power of the state.

 

Bott identified overseas trends as being more draconian, but was still highly critical of current New Zealand legislation and wary of a future escalation of legislation potentially damaging for human rights and civil liberties.

 

For the Council, privacy was mostly viewed as a freedom of speech issue; because whatever people say might be surveilled, people would become reluctant to speak their mind. Bott also raised the issue of the importance of privacy for businesses as well as individuals, partly as a means of addressing a broader audience. The Council had previously been involved in Privacy legislation issues for instance previous legislation for the bugging of prison inmates, and DNA testing.

 

Hugh Wolfensohn

 

Wolfensohn stated that the GCSB’s involvement in the passage of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 was in order to avoid limitations on their operational capabilities that would have arisen had the bill come into force prior to their being established on a statutory footing. He stated that the GCSB act had been gestating since he had begun working at the organisation in 1986, when he had been given responsibility for developing a draft piece of legislation to place the GCSB on a statutory footing. He stated that this process had been stalled by the lack of a sense of urgency and the low priority of intelligence and security issues for politicians in successive governments in relation to other legislation. According to Wolfensohn there was no direct relationship between these pieces of legislation, other than the issue of timing. He described the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill as another piece of the jigsaw puzzle which would allow police and security intelligence services to work more closely with telecommunications service providers in the execution of their lawful authority.

 

Liaison work for the GCSB act had been with the Ministry of Justice and that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and with the Ministry of Defence, the Police and the NZSIS. For the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85, consultation was undertaken with the Police and the NZSIS. With regard to the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill, Wolfensohn described their work as coat-tailing on the work of the police, who he identified as the prime-movers on this piece of legislation. The Prime Minister, the Ministry of Justice, ODESC (Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination), and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security were liaised with in the course of the development of this legislation. There was no direct consultation with ISPs or any international agencies on this particular issue, though he thought that the Ministry of Justice might have consulted with other countries.

 

He stated that post-September 11 and ‘the Bali tragedy’ that there was an understanding by politicians of the importance of security issues and the need for an agency like the GCSB, though also a belief that it ought to be constrained so as not to negatively affect the privacy rights of New Zealanders. He identified both a change in the international political environment, and in public perceptions of this threat, which was now seen as more real.

 

He was aware of the existence of ILETS but stated that the GCSB had had no direct or indirect involvement with it. He was not aware of any relationship between New Zealand Police or the NZSIS and ILETS. While he saw similarities between the ILETS agenda and the changes made in New Zealand, he perceived that these similarities were due to New Zealand following international trends rather than any direct influence.

 

With regard to privacy, the new legislation was subject to scrutiny by the Privacy Commissioner; furthermore, consultations had taken place with the Ministry of Justice regarding the New Zealand Bill of Rights implications of legislation.

 

Wolfensohn emphasised that the GCSB targeted foreign communications, though should a New Zealander accidentally get caught up in an interception process which is gathering foreign intelligence, there are strict guidelines as to what is to be done. These are not a matter of internal policy, but are government policy, though these are not explicitly stated in the new legislation.

 

Wolfensohn agreed that there was room in the act for honouring international intelligence agreements should they exist, but while he agreed that there were international arrangements for the sharing of information between the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, he stated that there were no official agreements. According to Wolfensohn “there is a full relationship between all five organizations within each of the five countries but the details of that obviously are something that I wouldn’t go into.”

 

David Farrar

 

David Farrar is Secretary of InternetNZ

 

Farrar stated that membership of InternetNZ was open to all; however members are often the de facto representatives of ISPs.  Because often no one employee of an ISP was responsible for policy, or representative of that organisation, employees of ISPs would often belong as individuals rather than as representatives of ISPs. However these individuals did to an extent represent the views of particular ISPs to the organisation. The organisation did not see itself as an advocacy group for ISPs or its members, but for Internet users and service providers in general.

 

Farrar described the process whereby InternetNZ would seek to influence legislation by initially taking up quite a public campaign if they were critical of a bill, utilising print and electronic media, and would get involved in the legislative process quite early on in terms of engaging in discussions with officials, government departments and MPs. The organisation would also begin drafting a good select committee submission early on in the process. However, once a bill reached the select committee stage, impact was limited to making the Bill an effective way of doing what it was supposed to do, rather than changing it radically.

 

Farrar raised two concerns that the organisation had had with the initial draft of the bill: that quite innocent activities might be considered criminal under the proposed legislation, and that the definitions used in the bill were not technology neutral. Farrar was pleased at the success the society had had in general in terms with lobbying the government. MPs on the select committee had given the group extended hearings, and many of their suggestions had been taken up.

 

He noted that there was initial public concern over the exemptions granted to the NZSIS and the GCSB, but that InternetNZ had taken the position that as long as their new powers remained equivalent to their existing powers there was no undue cause for concern.

 

His understanding of the GCSB was that they were able to search international traffic by keyword, though they were not supposed to target New Zealanders in their intelligence gathering; however this did indicate that there was a potential for a fairly blind interception system to be set up. This was a broader issue, and InternetNZ focused on Internet issues where there was a degree of consensus between stakeholders. Farrar raised the issue of keyword searching, and noted that the select committee had stated that if these powers were ever used by a surveillance agency, a case could be made to a judge that this was not permissible.

 

In general the bill was viewed as positive step by ISPs who had previously had no ability to deal with computer or cyber-crime. Cost had been an important issue for ISPs. Privacy was also a concern, but members took a ‘pragmatic’ view, in that it was better to have a law with exemptions for Police and security agencies, rather than no law at all. Farrar noted that privacy was perceived as being more important for individuals than organisations.

 

Farrar stated that InternetNZ had strong working relationships with their overseas counterparts. Because of the global nature of the Internet, solutions to many Internet issues required global solutions. However, recently enacted overseas surveillance legislation was described as being fairly draconian, and the potential for the impact of these laws on domestic legislation had caused concern in the Internet community. The organisation maintained contact with the Internet community in New Zealand by keeping a close watch on New Zealand Internet and computer newsgroups.

 

Privacy issues were dealt with on a case by case basis, guided by the principle that the Internet should be kept as open as possible.

 

Nicky Hager

 

Hager is a researcher who has written about the GCSB, NZSIS, civil liberty, privacy and surveillance issues.

 

Hager identified NZ Police, NZSIS and ILETS as key players in the network. He was not sure what the institutional relationships were, but it seemed that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economic Development were promoting legislation on behalf of the New Zealand Police and the NZSIS. The Police had started making approaches to the then National government in the late 1990’s. Changes in government meant that sometimes legislation was handed down without an awareness of its historical origin. Paul Swain was identified as being heavily involved in the passage of both pieces of legislation.

 

Hager argued that part of the strategy of the United States, through ILETS, was to develop a system of international standards for interception. These had also been pushed through the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). The New Zealand telecommunications industry had been involved in the legislation mostly in terms of discussions about the financial impact of the legislation. Telecom had had a long term relationship with police, and police had paid for an upgrade to Telecom’s networks to make them interception capable.

 

Hager stated that there was no documented evidence of direct pressure being put on New Zealand surveillance agencies or the New Zealand Government to conform to these international standards. He argued that these types of agreements were often not explicitly stated, and often were agreed to because of the reality that if New Zealand were not to agree to these standards, it would be excluded from reciprocal information sharing arrangements. These relationships were hidden and not accountable to the public.

 

Hager believed that there was a good probability that the related pieces of legislation had been split for tactical reasons into several different bills, in order to hide the full implications of the legislation for civil liberties. Unlike other countries such as the United Kingdom where the RIP Act constituted one piece of legislation covering all interception issues, here the legislation had been divided to minimise public concern and changes to the legislation as it passed through parliament. The relatively long passage of the bills was explained by the lack of priority of the legislation.

 

Hager was critical of the argument that the new legislation was not an extension of the existing powers of surveillance agencies, and merely updated their powers to cope with new technology. Although on one level this was correct, as it had previously been possible to intercept all telecommunications when just telephones were used. However, the fact that technology was now so much more a part of people’s lives meant that the impact of telecommunications surveillance was much greater, and included new powers such as being able to geographically locate a person through the use of mobile phone data. Hager stated that “the potential to intercept all someone’s electronic data in 2003 is a much, much larger intrusion into somebody’s life than it was to intercept all of somebody’s electronic data and communications 25 years ago”.

 

Hager stated that the changes occurring in New Zealand were 100% a consequence of what has been happening overseas. He spoke of a conscious encouragement of hysteria relating to terrorism fears sparked by September 11 by agencies such as the Police, and the use of public concern to justify increasing the resources available to law enforcement and surveillance agencies.

 

Hager believed that the GCSB followed privacy requirements quite strictly and was not likely to be a threat to New Zealanders’ privacy, though its surveillance activities were a potential threat to the privacy and human rights of citizens of other South Pacific countries.

 

Hager identified two main areas in which the legislation would have an impact: upon the psychological climate of the country and upon the treatment of Middle Eastern minority groups. He spoke of the powerful psychological effects that the awareness of the potential for surveillance had on innocent citizens, and gave the example of how it might affect a public servant who holds political views. He believed that the main impact of surveillance on people’s lives is the thought that it might be going on, and this was based on concerns expressed to him by a number of people who were worried that they might be surveilled for participation in political actions or for other reasons. Hager himself did not think it likely that protest groups would themselves be targeted under the current government.

 

For Hager, privacy was an important issue that went beyond law enforcement issues and concepts of justice, and concerned ideas of personhood, the relationship people have to other people and society, and the nature of public and private space.

 

W J Peoples

 

Peoples was the principle member of NZ Police staff responsible for the development of the Crimes Amendment Act no.6 (SOP 85) and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill. From 1993 to 2000 he held the position of Legal Advisor, and is currently the Crime Policy and Projects Officer for NZ Police.

 

Peoples stated that he became involved with the policy process in 1993 as legal advisor for NZ Police. Prior to this time, Police were pursuing law changes relating to interception, and were seeking to develop changes in legislation in relation to the ability to obtain warrants and to interception capability. Both items of legislation were seen as originating within NZ Police, and stemmed from concerns that a vital component of police operations would be seriously hampered without new legislation to cope with changes in telecommunications technology. In 1995 (under the then National government) the Ministry of Commerce led work on the development of an interception capability bill. A draft of this bill was developed in 1997, but the change in government meant that work on this bill was delayed for a number of years before being adopted by the Ministry of Justice under Labour.

 

Peoples identified three law enforcement agencies (GCSB, SIS and NZ Police) as having had input on the legislation, though NZ Police were identified as being the central impetus behind it. The Ministry of Commerce and the Minister of Communications were identified as having played an important role under the National government, and the Ministry of Justice under the Labour government. The Privacy Commissioner had also been involved, through discussions with the Ministry of Justice. A fairly extensive consultation process was undertaken between Police, the Ministry of Justice and telecommunications industry representatives before the bills were introduced. The key players from the telecommunications industry were identified as Telecom, Vodafone and Telstra-clear. A number of smaller ISPs were identified as having been involved to a lesser degree. The industry was not opposed to the legislation and in principle agreed with NZ Police concerns. Problems raised by the industry were of a more logistical nature. Meetings were formal and took place at the Ministry of Justice, which coordinated the consultation process. This process involved the discussion of the financial implications of the legislation, as well as the technical implications and the different obligations for various parts of the telecommunications industry.

 

ILETS was identified as playing more of a peripheral role in the development of the legislation. Peoples described ILETS as a forum in which various international law enforcement agencies could discuss and share ideas relevant to interception and telecommunications issues. NZ Police had attended ILETS two or three times, and the forum provided feedback on how different countries were responding to similar problems. According to Peoples, NZ Police had last attended ILETS when it was held in Canada. No consultation had occurred between the Ministry of Justice and ILETS. Peoples was unsure of the extent to which US interests dominated ILETS, as he had not personally attended any of the seminars.

 

The work of ILETS was seen as an attempt to provide guidance on the development of legislation and technical standards, and to avoid gaps in international legislation. ILETS weren’t able to dictate to New Zealand what should be done, as this would violate the sovereignty of New Zealand. However, it was noted that ILETS did seek the implementation of a global benchmark. Peoples saw the standards proposed by ILETS as benefiting domestic law enforcement agencies more than those of any other country, though couldn’t comment on whether this was also applicable for the GCSB or the SIS.

 

Privacy was considered a necessary and essential element of society, but there were occasions when the concerns of law enforcement overrode an individual’s right to privacy. Interception powers were not seen as being extended by the law changes; rather, the changes were seen as necessary to maintain existing powers.

 

Summary of Interviews

 

In the course of conducting the interviews it became apparent that a number of entities not identified in the course of preliminary investigations played a much more significant role than had been previously imagined. In addition, the role of ISPs and the degree of influence that they had had in the legislative process appeared to be less significant than had been previously anticipated.

 

All respondents situated the changes in a changing global environment that was dominated by security issues. Respondents differed in their response to this changing environment; some saw security issues as being more important now, while others saw these changes as being used as justification for increased state powers of surveillance.

 

The following entities were identified as significant by one or more of the correspondents:

 

·        Department of Foreign Affairs

·        Department of Internal Affairs

·        GCSB

·        GOVIS

·        ILETS

·        Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security

·        ISPs

·        IT Media

·        Law and Order Select Committee

·        Ministry of Commerce/ Ministry of Economic Development

·        Ministry of Justice

·        NZ Police

·        NZSIS

·        ODESC

·        Privacy Commissioner

 

The following groups were identified as significant by more than one correspondent:

 

·        ILETS

·        ISPs

·        Ministry of Justice

·        Ministry of Commerce

·        NZ Police

·        NZSIS

·        Privacy Commissioner

 

The degree of influence attributed to various agencies varied greatly across the sample, however some points of agreement were found. Bott, Hager, Locke, Peoples and Wolfensohn all identified the NZSIS as playing an important role in the development of this legislation. Hager, Locke, Peoples and Wolfensohn also identified the NZ Police as being key players. The Ministry of Commerce was identified as a key player by Hager and Peoples. The Ministry of Justice was identified as a key player by Farrar, Hager, Locke, Peoples and Wolfensohn. ILETS was identified as a key player by Hager and Locke. ISPs were identified as key players by Farrar and Peoples.

 

All participants emphasised the global nature of networks, and identified the international counterparts of New Zealand agencies and organisations such as ministries, police agencies, Internet societies, and civil liberty watchdogs as being of importance. A significant difference between the participants’ perspectives on the global aspects of policy networks lay in their views on the degree and nature of international involvement in the legislative process. Bott, Locke and Hager all identified international organisations as playing a crucial role in this network which had a direct impact upon the course of this legislation. Farrar also acknowledged the influence of international legislative trends upon New Zealand, and emphasised the global nature of the Internet. Wolfensohn acknowledged the links between New Zealand and other nations in terms of security issues, but didn’t identify any major international influence in terms of this legislation, other than possibly through the Ministry of Justice.

 

Although ISPs were consulted at various stages in the process, little importance was ascribed to their role in the legislative policy process by any of the participants other than Farrar and Peoples. Locke engaged in dialogue with one concerned ISP, plaNet. Hager stated that the nature of their involvement was largely regarding the financial implications of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill.

 

Information gathered from the participants suggested that a variety of channels were available for communication within the policy network. Predominantly these were part of the standard legislative process, and involved presentations to the select committee, and consultation between the Government and the various groups involved. International communication channels allowed communication between New Zealand organisations and their overseas counterparts, such as civil liberty groups and Internet societies.

 

While the roles of the NZ Police and the NZSIS were described as important, only Hager and Peoples (in the case of the Police only) were able to articulate the importance of their role, due to their research and involvement in this area.

 

Information provided by participants did not in general provide a detailed view of the policy networks in itself, though it did provide an insight into possible directions for further research. 

 

The interview subjects all viewed the concept of privacy quite differently. Locke was concerned that privacy as a civil liberty and a human right was not given the same weight that justice was given in debates over the legislation. For Bott, privacy was seen as being closely related to freedom of speech, and civil liberties issue. Wolfensohn emphasised compliance with the New Zealand Bill of Rghts, while Farrar emphasised the importance of openness of the Internet. Farrar emphasised that most members of InternetNZ took a pragmatic approach towards privacy issues, and noted that it was a more important issues for individuals than organisations. Hager took a more philosophical approach and argued for the importance of privacy in defining relationships between people in a society, and for the understanding of subjectivity and personhood. Peoples saw privacy as a necessary aspect of society, but not as important as law enforcement in certain cases.

 

Analysis of Key Documents

 

In parallel with the carrying out of interviews, an analysis of documents generated in the course of the passage of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill was undertaken. Most of these documents were provided by Nicky Hager who had requested them through the Official Information Act in 2000. Parliamentary debates were also analysed though to a lesser extent.

 

Table 2: Progress of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill:

 

 

First Reading

Select Committee Report

Second Reading

Third Reading

Assent

Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6)

7/09/99

30/07/01

5/10/99

1/07/03

2003

Telecommunications Interception Capability Bill

18/02/03

11/11/03

 

 

 

The most interesting information provided by an analysis of the parliamentary debates was with regard to the change in rhetoric that occurred subsequent to 11 September 2001. While earlier debate concerning the Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6) SOP 85 did not address security issues, and was more concerned with concepts of electronic property, and making sure that legislation remained “technology neutral”, subsequent to 11 September 2001 the arrival of a rhetoric relating to terrorism changed the nature of debate significantly. At the 3rd reading of the Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6) SOP 85, Rodney Hide (ACT), Phil Goff (Labour) and Stephen Chadwick (Labour) all raised issues of world security and ‘the spectre of international terrorism’. Marc Alexander (United Future) praised the legislation for its attempt to keep New Zealand in line with the international community, and also stated that “Internet service providers have accepted the reality of the need for greater enforcement capability by authorities and are prepared to support the bill so they can get on with their core business”. According to Alexander, progress of the bill was stalled because of early resistance to increased running costs by ISPs.

 

Keith Locke was critical of the bill and argued for the need for a clause that an ombudsman should audit intercepts, though this was only supported by Ron Mark (NZ First). The Greens were the only party to oppose this bill.

 

Parliamentary debates relating to the GCSB Act also employed this ‘age of terror’ rhetoric to justify the legislation, and in the second reading Richard Prebble (ACT) argued that “in an age of international terrorism, we need to know what those who think evil thoughts about this country and our security systems and trade are doing. One way of doing that is to electronically monitor them.”

 

The Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill: Select Committee Report (2003) emphasises that the legislation is similar to that which as been enacted in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. It states that the legislation in no way changes or extends the existing powers of surveillance agencies. According to this report submissions were received by telecommunications companies, the Police Association, and concerned members of the public. The Police Association and the telecommunications companies both supported the bill, though telecommunications companies were concerned over the costs of compliance. Other submissions made on the bill by individuals or groups of concerned members of the public considered the bill to be an overreaction to the events of 11 September 2001, and harmful to privacy.

 

 

These debates did not yield any insight into the policy networks involved, though they did reveal the extent to which international legislative developments were used to justify changes to domestic policy, and the impact that 11 September 2001 had upon rhetoric used to justify the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill. Documents provided by Hager obtained through the Official Information Act yielded much more significant insights, and these are detailed below.

 

Key Players and their Roles

 

What follows is a description of organisations identified by participants as important and an elaboration of their role in the policy network through the use of data collected from key documents and interview answers.

 

International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar (ILETS)

 

ILETS was identified as playing an important role by Locke and Hager. It was formed in 1993, and developed a role through the 90s as a key lobby group influencing United States, United Kingdom, European Union and Australian domestic interception capability legislation (Campbell 1999). Initially formed to encourage the worldwide development of telecommunications interception capability standards, it moved towards the development of standards for the interception of Internet communications as technology developed through the 1990s. As well as encouraging the development of standards through the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and other bodies, the group promoted the development of legislation requiring networks to be interception capable through the influence of national law enforcement agencies in Western countries.

           

An ILETS report from 1999 explains their goals and operating methods explicitly. It states that ILETS

 

 “is an annual gathering of law enforcement and national security agencies from a number of countries that provide for lawful telecommunications interception. The purpose of the seminar is to provide a forum of cooperation where developments, issues, problems and possible solutions in the area of lawful telecommunications interception can be considered and addressed. These issues are looked at in the framework of the national laws of the country of the agencies attending, and with regard to the obligation to protect the human and civil rights of the individual, including their rights to privacy. Recommendations emanating from the seminar can then be put to the respective governments to whom the agencies are ultimately responsible, for their consideration, and if accepted, adoption and implementation. ILETS does not rely upon a resolution or directive of any international organisation or group of countries for its existence.”

 

The Dictionary of Computer Security (2003) states that ILETS is “thought to be behind the growing worldwide tendency for governments to establish 'legal interception' of telecommunications.” It also states that “it is generally believed that the National Security Association (NSA) has a guiding but low key involvement”, a point also made by Campbell (1999).

 

The 1994 meeting of ILETS in Bonn led to the development of the International User Requirements for Interception (IUR 1.0) (Campbell 1999). At the 1995 ILETS in Canberra, participating agencies agreed to incorporate the IUR into national policies, standards, and later legislation. These requirements were adopted word for word by the EU in 1994 (FECL 58, 1999), in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recorded in ENFOPOL 109 and 110 and finally in ENFOPOL 98 (ENFOPOL is the standard EU classification for documents relating to Law Enforcement). These requirements were later adapted to make them “applicable both to existing and new communications technologies, for example satellite communications and Internet communications”. Campbell (1999) outlines the transition from what was initially a 36 page paper down to a 14 page paper, and then to a smaller 6 page paper following press coverage of the issue. More controversial requirements were split off from the main agreement into a number of different pieces of legislation. Campbell (1999) writes that “within two years from the first ILETS meeting, the IUR had, unacknowledged and word for word, become the secret official policy of the EU and law around the world.”

 

IUR 1.0 gives the broader objectives of the international requirements for interception as:

 

·        To serve as a Harmonised set of international interception requirements, which can be used in the development of national policies;

 

·        To increase awareness of law enforcement’s interception needs in many countries;

 

·        To provide guidance to telecommunications network operators, service providers and manufacturers for meeting interception obligations;

 

·        To stimulate the development of telecommunications industry standards for fulfilling interception orders and to ensure that technical standards do not frustrate interception orders.

 

(International Telecommunications Union 1999).

 

The IUR also outlines a number of technical requirements for interception. The requirements proposed are recommended for use by law enforcement agencies, national telecommunications authorities, national legislative bodies and international standards organisations “in discussions with the telecommunications industry on fulfilling interception orders” (ibid.) The IUR was incorporated into an agreement known as the ‘MoU’ (Memorandum of Understanding) which was signed by the European Communities. A declaration of support for the MoU was also signed by Canada, the United States and Australia (NZ Police 1996).

 

New Zealand first attended ILETS in 1995 in Canberra, Australia, and also attended in 1997 in Dublin, Ireland and 1998 in Ottawa, Canada, and in 1999 in Saint Cyr au Mont d’Or, France (Statewatch 2001). According to the ILETS ‘99 report, ILETS 2000 was to be held in either the United States or New Zealand. An ILETS was not held in 1996.

 

ILETS employs an approach based on the development of technical standards required for interception, and the development of legislation to support these standards, an approach explicitly taken by New Zealand Police (see below). Thus ILETS has engaged both with the Public and Private sectors in its efforts to achieve its objectives, as the NZ Police and the NZSIS have.

 

It is worth quoting in full the 1996 statement of Australian Attorney-General Daryl Williams for the insights this yields into the process as a whole:

 

“Having regard to the discussions that have taken place within the International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar concerning law enforcement’s requirements for telecommunications interception, I have taken note of the International User Requirements for the Lawful interception of telecommunications as annexed hereto. I will endeavour to ensure that the Requirements are taken into account in appropriate national policies and recommend that they be used as a basis for discussion with the telecommunications industry, standards bodies, telecom operators and others. In view of the continuing evolution of telecommunications technology, I would welcome further cooperation within the expert group in reviewing periodically and updating the International User Requirements.”

 

(Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Fax, 1996)

 

To assume that the same agreement transpired here would require a fallacious jump in logic; however, upon consideration of documents available it quickly becomes apparent that similar agreements were made in New Zealand.

 

Behind Closed Doors

 

According to the ILETS ’99 report, “Attendance at ILETS is by invitation only. “ The report also states that “ILETS members shall also have regard to whether it is in the overall interests of ILETS that the agency be invited to attend”. Campbell (1999) points out that representatives from industry or civil rights organizations are excluded from attending.

 

ILETS operates behind closed doors, and it is clearly its intention to be as secretive as possible. In the ILETS ’99 report, it is stated that with regard to communications with the media, it should be stressed that “ILETS is not a formal group, and therefore there is no formal membership.” It is also stated that “each country must observe its own regulations, and there will be cases for which answers may be forwarded to the national parliament. If such exposure happens, notification should be sent to all members. The LAG [Legal Advisory Group] will publish a FAQ and list of responses”. Documents are not to be released and guidelines are not intended for public consumption. A decision to develop a “chapeau” to “cover off the questions such as accountability” is announced, and only this “chapeau” can be used by members and their governments for publication.

 

A 1999 article by Paul Brislen includes the following comments by New Zealand Police on the organisation: “It’s all supposed to be top secret. I’m surprised you got hold of the name even.” No information about the activities and meetings of ILETS since 1999 has been made publicly available, through leaks or otherwise.

 

New Zealand Police

 

NZ Police were identified as being key players by Hager, Locke, Peoples and Wolfensohn.

 

Involvement with ILETS

 

According to Brislen (1999), ILETS was planning to lobby the New Zealand government to introduce Internet interception legislation in 1999, though other documents suggest this process began much earlier. New Zealand had been represented by law enforcement and/or national security bodies at ILETS conferences since 1995 (Statewatch 2001), and it is likely that both Police and NZSIS representatives were present at these meetings.

 

The ILETS ’99 report includes a membership requirement that “the state of the invited agency shall also subscribe to the international user requirements adopted by ILETS and take the necessary steps to implement them.” As members of ILETS, this was the obligation placed upon the NZ Police and the NZSIS.

 

It was not until 1996 that Police met with the Ministry of Commerce to begin legislating for the requirements proposed by the IUR and the MoU. Internal correspondence from 1996 October indicates that a meeting took place in June regarding the interception of private communications in New Zealand by Police. A New Zealand Police report from 1996 entitled “Maintaining Interception Capabilities” states that:

 

“The New Zealand Police support a two tiered approach to the issue of interception and technology. Initially, work has progressed with current network operators, Telecom and Bellsouth [purchased in 1998 to become part of Vodafone Group Plc], to ensure that their communication systems are able to provide Police with an interception capability. Secondly, Police support a legislative response which would see both the current and future network operators being required to provide intercept capabilities.”

 

The report goes on to outline international developments in legislation in the United States, the UK, Canada and Australia and then to outline the international context in which the proposed changes to New Zealand law originated. It states that an influential FBI document created in 1992 entitled “Law Enforcement Requirements for the Surveillance of Electronic Communications” had created a standard upon which United States legislation was built around. It was this work that led directly to the formation of ILETS, a fact which is explicitly stated in the report. A September 1994 meeting in Brussels is mentioned, which took place between international law enforcement agencies and government telecommunications experts, and from this meeting a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was developed “which presented the requirements of law enforcement agencies throughout the world to effectively and fully conduct telecommunications interception”.

 

An October 1996 fax to Police states that the ILETS Secretary made enquiries to the New Zealand Police to ascertain their intentions with regard to the MoU, and an individual within the New Zealand Police was instructed to and did in fact reply that “New Zealand Police were currently working with the Ministry of Commerce to obtain Government support for the MoU”.

In the interview conducted with Peoples, he stated that he was aware of the existence of the MoU, but that it had never been signed up to by Police on behalf of New Zealand, though as an international agreement this was a matter for other government departments. He did not believe that New Zealand had officially signed up to the MoU, though couldn’t be certain about this. Peoples didn’t believe there was an expectation from ILETS to implement the standards outlined in the IUR, but  was aware that ILETS were seeking countries to sign up to the MoU and agreed that ILETS were attempting to get the IUR standards implemented in New Zealand.

 

The Police report also mentions that the possibility of introducing the requirements in the form of a license was considered, but concludes that “for the purpose of providing a standard which must be met by network operators, legislation is required.” It goes on to state that “by legislating for interception capabilities, New Zealand would be seen to meet international expectations recognised throughout Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia” (NZ Police 1996) and furthermore that New Zealand would not be seen as a ‘weak link’ in terms of international security.

 

In 1998 New Zealand Police handed out an ILETS survey to Telecommunications network operators and ISPs, and asked for feedback on a number of technical issues. An Fax from Police to Bellsouth from July 1998 states that the New Zealand Police and the NZSIS are members of ILETS and states that at ILETS 1998 in Ottawa they “were asked to provide details of New Zealand Telecommunications Service Providers Architectures” via an attached questionnaire. A Fax from Police to Saturn Communications in October 1998 requests their co-operation in the completion of the same questionnaire, which was to be sent on to the ILETS Secretariat.

 

As IUR 1.0 was adopted word for word by the EU, New Zealand police suggested that these requirements should be adopted in exactly the same manner in New Zealand. An email from Peoples from May 1998 entitled “ILETS: Update on NZ legislative developments” states that:

 

“In respect of International User Requirements for Interception, we are proposing to include in the amendment to the Telecommunications Act a regulation making power – and to simply copy the IURs into the regulations. This way they will be updated as and when they change”.

 

These regulation making powers did in fact become part of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill, and although the select committee has recommended some changes to this part of the bill (clause 28), even if these changes are made a general regulation making power will remain. In the interview undertaken with Peoples, he stated that there was an earlier attempt to tie the IUR into the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill through the ‘regulation making power’ clause, but NZ Police later thought that the legislation would be sufficient in itself without outlining any specific technical requirements. The ‘regulation making power’ clause remained, as Police thought that if the situation changed in terms of the requirements for interception, the situation would need to be reconsidered.

 

The IUR is also referred to, somewhat obliquely, in the “Maintaining Interception Capability” report (NZ Police, 1996).  The report states that “a standard set of requirements for law enforcement agencies to intercept telecommunications have been developed. A number of overseas governments have endorsed these standards as providing a guide when developing policy or legislation on this issue.”

 

According to Hager (2000), Police initially denied the legislation had links to FBI plans. Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Fitzharris later admitted, in October 2000, that the “proposed legislative changes would bring New Zealand into conformity with most, if not all, of the International User Requirements” (ibid).

 

Internal correspondence indicates that SOP 85 was developed by Police and the Ministry of Justice, with contact with the Ministry of Economic Development and with some assistance from the GCSB (Email from Morrell[3] to Peoples, 2000). The increasing use of computers for communication and crime, and the need to be able to collect and utilise electronic evidence in order to be able to prosecute under the new crimes created under Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6) were cited as reasons for the development of the SOP. In a 1999 letter from Police Commissioner Peter Doone to the Minister of Police, Doone states that “Because the crimes amendment bill is responding directly to technological advances impacting on crime, Police believe this is a most suitable legislative vehicle for the amendments to be contained in”.

 

A letter from Peoples to the Ministry of Justice in February 1999 state that ‘with the emphasis on the privacy of the individual, organisations are increasingly reluctant to provide Police with assistance to investigate crime without being compelled to do so by law”. According to this correspondence, Police were placed under significant time constraints when initially consulting with Cabinet regarding the Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6), and this seems to be the reason why it was necessary to include the results of later consultation in a supplementary order paper. Issues of the global nature of offences and the use of encryption were also discussed by Police and the Ministry of Justice at this time, but remained unresolved.

 

An email from Peoples to Kerr in 2000 states that the changes contained within this the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill were previously agreed to by Cabinet, but did not receive sufficient support in 1999 for introduction. At the time of this correspondence, the Ministry of Commerce were attempting to have this bill placed back on the legislative agenda through contact with the Cabinet Legislation Committee.

 

The “Maintaining Interception Capabilities” report (NZ Police 1996)  states that police had spent an undisclosed figure upgrading the interception capability of Telecom’s network. Another Police report from 2000 states that: “Currently, the principal concern for Police is the escalating cost of obtaining information from telecommunication companies. Charges levelled by Telecom for information provided pursuant to search warrant amounts to $0.5m. Vodafone have begun to charge Police for information obtained under search warrant basing their costs on an estimated annual figure of between $800k – 1m.”  An email in April 2000 from Peoples to Morrell mentions that Vodafone was charging this figure for a service provided by 1 fulltime and 1 part-time staff member, and argued that this cost should be shifted back to the private sector. This same email mentions that at this time Police sought to involve Treasury and Commerce in discussions regarding the legislation.

 

Ministry of Commerce [Ministry of Economic Development]

 

Police contact with Government to pursue the legislative approach outlined above is confirmed through documentation from 1996, and occurred initially through the then National government. Initial meetings occurred through the Ministry of Commerce and began at least as early as June 1996, as at this time they had already been considering the issues prior to this ‘Glass Room’ meeting of the NZSIS and New Zealand Police[4]. The Minister of Commerce at this time was John Luxton, who took over from Philip Burson in a 1996 Cabinet re-shuffle. Luxton held this portfolio until late 1998, when Max Bradford became Minister of Enterprise and Commerce, though it is unclear who from the Ministry was involved during this period.

 

A report from this ‘Glass Room’ meeting states that “the Ministry of Commerce has been studying privacy issues related to interception powers in the telecommunications context, and would wish to be consulted in the development of the Police’s proposals” (Field 1996). Civil liberty concerns were raised in response to the possibility of extending the range of offences for which interception warrants might be obtained. The report also proposed that an officials group be created with representatives from the Police, Ministry of Justice, Commerce and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to produce a report on these issues.

 

The Ministry of Commerce was identified as a key player by Hager and Peoples, and this document show that this Ministry was involved in the development of interception legislation from an early stage. It certainly played a lesser role later, as the Ministry of Justice became more involved.

 

Ministry of Justice

 

The Ministry of Justice was identified as a key player by Farrar, Hager, Locke, Peoples and Wolfensohn. The Ministry was involved from at least as early as 1999, and was responsible for the both the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill. Paul Swain was Associate Minister of Justice, Minister of Commerce and Minister of Communications from 10 December 1999 to 27 July 2002, and was heavily involved in the passage of both bills. Phil Goff was the Minister of Justice from 10 December 1999, but appears to have played a more marginal role in the development of the legislation. Rick Barker was the Associate Minister of Justice and was sponsor for the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill.

 

Cabinet and the Social Policy Committee (SOC)

 

A Cabinet Social Policy and Health Committee paper from July 2000 explains that a decision was made in March 1999 by the then National Government to create a number of new offences relating to computers under the Crimes Act. These offences included the unauthorised access of computers (hacking), but it was decided that before a decision was made more consideration was required. The report also refers to a decision in April 2000 by the Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee on Intelligence and Security (AIS) to include exemption provisions for surveillance agencies with regard to the misuse of computers. The paper proposed that a Supplementary Order Paper be created to cover the crime of unauthorised access, to widen the definition of interception offences to include electronic communication, and to provide exemptions to these offences for surveillance agencies.

 

This document states that consultation was undertaken with: the New Zealand Police, The NZSIS, the GCSB, the Serious Fraud Office, the Department of Customs, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Internal Affairs, the New Zealand Defence Force, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. A number of other departments were informed and invited to comment, but did not provide feedback.

 

Section 36 of the report deals with the privacy implications of the SOP, and concludes that the proposal is satisfactory in this regard:

 

”The new offences of unauthorised access to a computer system and intercepting non-oral private communications enhance protection of individual privacy and are supported by the privacy commissioner. However, the exemptions for law enforcement agency and intelligence organisations represent an inroad into those new privacy protections and concern intrusive forms of investigation and surveillance. The key law enforcement agency compliance issue is with information privacy principle 4(concerning means of collection of personal information which are unlawful, unfair or which unreasonably intrude upon personal affairs). The proposals also have implications for agencies that hold or receive data communications such as telecommunications network providers and Internet service providers in terms of information privacy principle 11(disclosure of personal information). I am of the opinion that, given the limits of the exemptions and the warrant processes, the proposals comply with the principles”

 

A later Cabinet report from August 2000 states that the Ministry of Economic Development initiated work in 1998 on making networks interception capable. It also states that Police have funding set aside for upgrading technical capabilities, and that the issue of making networks interception capable would be addressed later in the year in the context of amendments to the Telecommunications Act.

 

Telecommunications Network Operators and ISPs

 

ISPs were identified as key players in the policy network by Peoples and Farrar, though little information regarding their involvement was obtained. The following information gathered during the consideration of key documents has been provided in order to better describe their role in the development of policy, what pressures they were subject to, and what channels of communication they were involved in.

 

Communications between BellSouth (Vodafone) and the Ministry of Commerce indicate their willingness in principle to see the proposed legislation go forward as part of their duty as a “good corporate citizen”. (Toye 1998).  However concerns were raised regarding cost implications, as has been noted previously. Clear (now Telstra-Clear) raised concerns in 1998 regarding the cost implications of the legislation, technical issues, and the lack of time given to respond to proposed changes. (Stone 1998). Telecom, as has already been noted, had been made interception capable to some extent through police funding. Police were keen to shift the cost of interception to the private sector (Peoples 1999), and ISPs were reluctant to accept this burden.

Another concern which ISPs raised with Police was that being seen to intercept the communications of their own customers might prove to be bad for business. However Police argued that “Legislation would remove the concern that network operators have of being seen to assist the Police investigate their own customers” (NZ Police 1996).

 

Although the response to comparable legislation overseas had seen some criticisms made by ISPs (Brislen 1999; Campbell 1999) and Keith Mitchell, the chairman of the London Internet exchange (LINX), had commented that the costs of such a system would be astronomical, and that “this kind of monitoring approach is based in a world view of telecoms operators which is both technically and economically outdated” (Campbell 1999). New Zealand ISPs were not as forthcoming with any comments or criticisms they may have had, aside from Telecom, who had initially expressed concerns about the technical requirements of interception, based on the volume of traffic (Brislen, 1999).

 

Little information was available which covered the relationship New Zealand network operators have to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), though research showed that this group had been working with ILETS since 1995 (International Telecommunications Union 1999). This may have been another channel through which New Zealand ISPs were influenced.

 

Another point worthy of discussion is the change in operating environment created for surveillance agencies as previously state–owned telecommunications operators became privatised. Previously when telecommunications operators had been state owned, the interception process had been somewhat simpler, but with the proliferation of service providers for telecommunication and Internet services at the same time as the development of new communication technologies, the job became more complex. An email in 1999 from King to Toye stated that Maurice Williamson (Minister of Communications) was concerned that an increasing proliferation of service providers might lead to problems if the legislation weren’t acted upon quickly.

Privacy Commissioner

 

As is standard procedure, the Privacy Commissioner was consulted at various times throughout the development of the legislation on both a formal and informal basis. Initial consultation began in 1996 and continued throughout the progress of the bills.

 

A fax from the commissioner to Maurice Williamson (Minister of Communications) in 1998 raises the fact that the Ministry of Commerce does not, according to a cabinet paper, see any privacy concerns with the interception capability legislation. The commissioner also felt that the timeframe he had been given for consultation was far too short.

 

He criticised the report for stating that interception capability was standard in developed countries, giving the example of five countries which had legislated for it (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Sweden) when these were the only countries whose laws had been researched. He concluded that the proposed laws did have adverse implications for privacy, and that these implications had not been fully explored. He also argued for the need for an independent auditing authority.

 

The Privacy Commissioner argued that the amendments introduced in SOP 85 both enhance and intrude into privacy.  He proposed the following amendments to the Crimes Amendment bill (No.6) SOP 85:

 

(a) to create an interception register and have this audited by a suitable independent body such as the Police Complaints Authority;

(b) to grant that independent body a power to require the Police, in exceptional cases, to notify individuals whose communications have been intercepted of the fact, at a suitable point after the interception or investigation is completed;

(c) to establish a right to compensation for unlawful interception.

 

New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS)

 

The NZSIS was identified as a key player by Bott, Hager, Locke, Peoples and Wolfensohn. The service is likely to have been involved in this network since at least 1995, and may have attended ILETS ’95, though it is unclear what New Zealand representatives were present at these meetings. Certainly by June 1996 they were involved in the policy process through meetings with Police and the Ministry of Commerce. At one of these meetings it was noted that: “The SIS have similar concerns about the difficulty posed for the service operators intercepting private communications on their behalf.” (Field 1996)

The Service’s budget for 2001/02 was increased by the government from $12,000,000 to $13,518,000 in response to the events of 11 September 2001. The annual report from 2003 states that “Just as last year was dominated by the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, this year was dominated by the 12 October 2002 attack on Bali, Indonesia. New Zealanders died in both attacks, but the one in Bali brought the threat of terror much closer to home for New Zealand. It emphasised the urgency of more counterterrorist work, and the importance of international cooperation between security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, if terrorist threats are to be identified and defeated. Within resource constraints the Service played an appropriate role, increasing its counter-terrorist work and enhancing its international cooperation in this area.” (New Zealand Security Intelligence Service 2003)

 

While one can conclude that the NZSIS is currently playing a more important role than it has in recent years, it is difficult to determine whether this led to it playing a greater part in the development of this legislation. The lack of documentation available and the reluctance of the agency to grant an interview has meant that assessing the real impact of the agency in the network studied has been difficult. While documents show that the SIS has been involved with ILETS and the service admits that it “has liaison arrangements with a number of security intelligence organisations overseas “(New Zealand Security Intelligence Service 2002), little further information is available.

 

GCSB

 

As with the NZSIS, the secretive nature of this organisation makes it difficult to assess their overall influence in the progress of this legislation, though it has certainly played at the very least a significant peripheral role, if only terms of ensuring that adequate provisions were made to ensure that GCSB surveillance capacities were not impaired by the new legislation. By their own account meetings occurred between the GCSB and Police, the NZSIS, the Ministry of Justice, ODESC and the DPMC.

 

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security was requested in 1996 by then Prime Minister Jim Bolger to address concerns that the GCSB intercepted the private communications of New Zealanders. The Inspector-General’s report concluded that these communications were not targeted, and when they were accidentally intercepted, their identification was suppressed in final reports disseminated by the GCSB (Greig 1998). Furthermore, Greig states that “GCSB operations do not compromise the legitimate privacy interests of New Zealanders”. Again in 1999 the then Prime Minister Jenny Shipley requested that the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security report to her regarding: “the extent to which the GCSB’s collection and reporting activities are driven by the foreign intelligence requirements of the New Zealand Government;” and also “the agreements whereby New Zealand’s SIGINT facilities are used to meet the intelligence requirements of our intelligence partners”.  This was in response to a number of concerns that had been raised in New Zealand and Europe with regard to the UKUSA or 5-nation alliance and the degree of United States influence upon intelligence circles. Greig (1999) stated that there are strong ties between New Zealand and the wider intelligence community including the United States and the United Kingdom, but that these ties do not compromise New Zealand’s Sovereignty. The acknowledgment of the existence of this network is not in itself sufficient to determine the nature of this relationship and the degree of influence it has had upon the progress of this legislation. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary it must be concluded that the GCSB played a relatively minor though important role in the development of this legislation.

 

Conclusions drawn from Policy Network Analysis

 

Data collected from interviews and confirmed through documentation suggests that the most important groups who played a role in the creation of the considered legislation were:

 

·        ILETS

·        ISPs

·        Ministry of Commerce

·        Ministry of Justice

·        NZ Police

·        NZSIS

·        Privacy Commissioner

 

These organisations were identified as core organisations on the basis that:

 

      i.            they were identified as key players by at least two of the interview participants, and

     ii.            this information was corroborated by documentation.

 

Individual ISPs identified as being important were named by Peoples as being Telecom, Vodafone and Telstra-Clear, a fact confirmed in NZ Police correspondence.

 

The following groups played an important but less significant role:

 

·        Cabinet

·        GCSB

 

While the GCSB was named as a key player by a number of the interviewees, insufficient documentation was obtained to enable the confirmation of the extent of their involvement. While Cabinet clearly played an important role, it was not identified as a key player in the policy network by any of the interviewees. A number of other organisations were identified by interview subjects as playing significant roles, but these were not identified as core organisations according to the criteria given above. These other organisations are:

 

·        Department of Foreign Affairs

·        Department of Internal Affairs

·        GOVIS

·        Inspector-general of Intelligence and Security

·        IT Media

·        Law and Order Select Committee

·        Law Commission

·        ODESC

 

The role of New Zealand law enforcement and intelligence agencies must be placed in an international context, and a clear picture emerged from the data of these agencies working closely with their overseas counterparts. One of the more significant questions raised by this conclusion is the degree to which international pressure was placed upon New Zealand law enforcement and intelligence agencies to agree to the international surveillance of telecommunications requirements being  pushed by ILETS. The degree of influence to which an organisation with no degree of transparency or accountability, and which has actively tried to avoid any kind of public exposure, has influenced legislation in so many countries including New Zealand raises a number of concerns. The extent of this influence is undeniable when one considers that these requirements were initially adopted word for word by the European Union, and the fact that provisions have been made for these requirements to be written into New Zealand policy through clause 28 of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill. The fact that little is known about ILETS, its FBI origins and links to the NSA is further cause for concern.

 

The role the United States has created for itself as an international police force, and the degree of influence it holds both in economic and intelligence circles would seem to suggest that discussions involving ILETS regarding interception capabilities may have been to a large extent unilateral. It remains a matter of some speculation as to the nature of this relationship, and it is not a matter readily accessible to public scrutiny. Without doubt New Zealand laws are and have historically been modeled on legislation enacted overseas, and it was not until 1947 when New Zealand passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act that it became legislatively independent from the United Kingdom. Even subsequent to this legislation being enacted New Zealand has often followed English legislation very closely. However, over the last 20 years New Zealand has begun to follow legislation enacted in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia (Greville 2003). Yet while the argument is often raised that these legal changes have occurred in order to bring New Zealand in line with the international community, and keep up to date with international legal trends, the fact remains that an international lobby group pushing a United States originated agenda has influenced domestic legal policy in a significant manner over the course of the last 10 years. The “Maintaining Interception Capability” report (NZ Police 1996) mentions that there exist “international expectations recognised throughout Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia” with regard to the interception of communications, and that “with the advent of global communication systems, New Zealand would not be seen as the weak link from which organised crime could establish secure communications” if it implemented legislation for interception capability. This report was produced in 1996, and it seems reasonable to assume from the nature of the debates occurring in parliament subsequent to September 2001 that these ‘international expectations’ would only have increased following the so-called ‘War on terrorism’.

 

Diplomatic pressure or influence may have played some role also, though it is difficult to ascertain to what extent. A letter received by the New Zealand Mission to the European Communities in 1996, which was subsequently forwarded to New Zealand Police National Headquarters, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Justice, outlines the adoption by the Council of the European Union of the IUR and invites the recipients to “take note of this letter for the purpose of your further discussions with the telecommunications industry, standards bodies and telecommunications operators”.

 

One conclusion that may be drawn from this research is that the policy networks that have been studied are essentially global in nature. These ‘global policy networks’, which involved both private and public sector groups, were identified as important by all of the interview subjects. For instance, there exists a strong international network of privacy commissioners, which was used extensively during the crisis provoked by legislation enacted internationally subsequent to September 11 which was pushing in a direction inimical to privacy. These global networks allowed international trends to be identified by public sector, private sector, and civil liberty groups. The public sector tended to use information provided through these networks to justify policy in terms of it bringing New Zealand into line with international trends. Civil liberty groups used these global communication channels as an early warning system to identify international developments in technology and legislation that were causing debate overseas with regard to their implications for civil liberties.

 

The research tended to suggest that a number of policy networks were involved in the development of this legislation, each possessing a global aspect. These were the Governmental network, which included the Ministries of Justice and Commerce, Cabinet, Parliament, and the various committees involved. Closely related to this, but to some extent independent was the law enforcement and intelligence network, which included Police, NZSIS and the GCSB. A network of civil liberties groups concerned by the privacy implications raised by the issues involved was also identified by this research, although this network was much more loosely formed than the other two. Communication between groups did occur however, and at least one public meeting was organised.

 

While ISPs have played a pivotal role, their relationship with each other and other international groups (such as the ITU) has not been observed in the context of this piece of research to describe them forming, in these particular circumstances, a network of their own. To some extent they are connected to each other through InternetNZ, though this is largely an informal relationship; however this relationship did mean that they were well represented in the policy process. Individual network operators/ISPs have however been involved closely with the Police, in determining how interception capabilities might best be implemented, and in discussions over cost.

 

The original research question which this project was to address was formulated as:

 

How have ISPs influenced and been influenced by privacy policy networks in New Zealand?

 

This network was defined as “the networks of organisations involved in the development of public policy and legislation that has privacy implications.” This network was further limited by the researcher to that related to two specific pieces of legislation, the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85, and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill.

 

This privacy policy network has been shown to have been composed of multifarious networks, each with a global character. It has been shown that ISPs have played a significant role in this network, though not a dominant one. In terms of influences upon them, these have been shown to be significant, and largely dominated by the interests of domestic and international law enforcement groups, mediated through the New Zealand government. This impact may be measured in terms of the cost of compliance with the new legislation.

 

The primary objective was to determine what roles different organisations had played in the development of public policy relating to Internet privacy issues with regard to electronic surveillance in New Zealand, and this was adequately addressed by the research. The second objective of the research, relating to how individual actors and organisations defined privacy, was not satisfactorily answered. A small volume of data was collected with regard to this question, although in retrospect the capacity of the project was not large enough to address such a question in depth. It was initially intended that the research would also address the future roles of organisations involved in the policy networks as they saw them; however, this too proved to be beyond the capacity of the project.

 

It was originally intended that the research would be limited to the study of national networks, and the impact of global forces were to be considered to a lesser extent. However, as the work progressed it became apparent that it was impossible to study national networks in isolation, as they were so much a part of global policy networks. In order to satisfy the primary objective of the research, the scope was widened to include more research on the role of the international organisation ILETS which had clearly played a significant role in determining domestic policy and legislation.

 

The sub-problems which were identified in the initial research design were given as follows:

 

      i.            What influence does Government, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the New Zealand Internet Society have on policies affecting ISPs?

     ii.            What influence do ISPs have on the shaping of Public Policy?

   iii.            Who are the key players involved in privacy policy networks?

   iv.            What other actors are involved in privacy policy networks?

    v.            What communication channels are involved in privacy policy networks?

   vi.            What consultation processes are involved?

 vii.            How do different actors define privacy?

 

Questions (i) to (iv) have been addressed adequately by the research, as is detailed above. Questions (v) and (vi) were addressed peripherally by the research, but the volume of material gathered meant that these questions were to a large extent beyond the capacity of the project. Data was also collected relevant to question (vii), but again the scope of the project had to be constrained in order to provide an adequate analysis of the data yielded by questions (i) to (iv). Question (vii) could in itself generate enough data for a separate research project. The small volume of data obtained in interviews related to this question has been briefly summarised in the Summary of Interviews section above.

 

Critical Policy Analysis

 

“And in order to be exercised, this power had to be given the instrument of permanent, exhaustive, omnipresent surveillance, capable of making all visible, as long as it could remain invisible. It had to be like a faceless gaze that transformed the whole social body into a field of perception: thousand of eyes posted everywhere, mobile attentions ever on the alert, a long hierarchized network” (Foucault 1979, 214)

 

While policy network theory has been employed above to provide a structural analysis of policy processes in the telecommunications industry, this critical policy analysis provides a post-structuralist context for the above approach. It constitutes an attempt to locate the structures observed in the policy network analysis in a broader historical context, in order to analyse the power structures present in the network that has been studied and the implications of these. While acknowledging the reality of the network described in the above analysis, it attempts to provide a further analysis of the implications of the above conclusions and their implications for a conception of power in contemporary society. Foucault’s description of the panoptic mode of power provides the conceptual framework to go beyond a description of the development of surveillance legislation in New Zealand and provide a more critical analysis of recent and proposed changes and their implications for privacy in New Zealand.

 

When Foucault was writing, surveillance was to large extent localised and constrained by institutional borders. The globalisation of society, the growth of the Internet and the increasing reliance upon access to information and the use of communication technologies in everyday life have led to the development of a global information and communication system which is pervasive throughout the developed countries. However, the concomitant growth in surveillance technologies and increased international security concerns have brought about a number of changes in the nature of surveillance, the role it plays in everyday life and the impact it has upon privacy and selfhood.

 

Law enforcement agencies have utilised concerns about paedophilia, computer crime, international drug trafficking and terrorism to justify what is described as an ‘extension of existing powers’. Government agencies, politicians and police have repeatedly claimed that recent legislative changes to do not alter their powers, but merely update them so as to make them applicable in the modern age. While to some extent this is true, the ubiquity and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies means that these new powers are a much greater incursion on privacy than powers previously held. The idea that legislation should be defined independently of technology, that it should be ‘technology neutral’ was used to justify legislative change by a number of politicians in Parliamentary debates, and by the NZ Police. This idea has been addressed by Nelson (2002), who has argued that since September 11 a new rhetoric has arisen in which surveillance technology is viewed as necessary for the service of the common good and for the protection of society rather than as a potential threat to society. She argues that these new technologies and the rhetoric used to justify them present a “unique public policy concern.” Although the scope of the project meant that textual issues were not focused upon in the final analysis, further research might pursue this angle in the way that Mukherjee has done, in order to examine the assumptions and power relationships embedded in these discursive practices (Mukherjee 2000).

 

The ability to amalgamate and analyse data collected from electronic surveillance has also improved. In its most extreme form this can be seen in the now defunct Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, which attempted to collate and analyse electronic data on United States citizens collected from a variety of different databases to profile potential terrorists. This CIA program was initiated by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the agency initially responsible for the birth of the Internet. The move towards a system of global standards, requirements and legislation for surveillance indicates that the mode of power identified by Foucault has extended beyond institutional bounds, and has become more than a method of controlling a prison, school or factory population (although it undoubtedly operates at this level also) and is becoming a tool for Governments, law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies to implement a system of global monitoring. Proponents of this system argue that it is used to target criminals or terrorists; critics argue that this system may fail and abuse will occur. According to Foucault, the effects of power are not necessarily located in the abuse of power, or in moments when the system fails, but in the effects caused by the act of observation upon behaviour. Foucault states that: “Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and unverifiable. Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so” (1979, 201).

 

Concerns and Recommendations for Further Research

 

The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime is currently playing an important role in the development of legislation relating to electronic surveillance and the Internet, and research into the effect and implications of this treaty could provide further insights into global policy networks relating to the Internet and privacy. Also, it may play more of a role in New Zealand in the future and it was mentioned in the select committee report on the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85. While this research was being conducted, a Telecommunications Privacy Code was created by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in consultation with a number of groups including ISPs, and an analysis of this consultation process might provide useful information concerning the role of ISPs in privacy policy networks. Furthermore, the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill has not yet passed and further research could be conducted into its passage.

 

Further research could also be conducted to determine the international impact of ILETS in various counties, and into the study of the impact of September 11 upon legislation dealing with electronic surveillance in a global context.

 

The issue of encryption and whether encryption keys would need to be handed over by ISPs or individual computer users who were being investigated was debated by Police and the Ministry of Justice, and considered by the Law and Order Select Committee. This issue has also been part of the Counter-Terrorism Bill and the implications of this issue for privacy are great. According to an EU STOA report, “between 1993 to 1998, the United States conducted sustained diplomatic activity seeking to persuade EU nations and the OECD to adopt their "key recovery" system”; in light of this it will be interesting to see how this issue progresses. Hager stated that the requirement to hand over encryption keys had been a contentious issue with regard to the legislation being studied, and had been inserted into and withdrawn from the proposed legislation a number of times. In a 1999 email from Peoples to Morrell, Peoples stated that police wished to continue without legislating with regard to encryption, in order to avoid delaying the passage of the legislation.

 

The two central concerns raised by this research were:

 

·        The degree of international influence on domestic policy.

·        The lack of transparency in the process of policy development.

 

As libraries play an increasingly important role in the provision of electronic information, this legislation may become increasingly applicable in a library context. If copyright violations become more of an issue in the digital library environment legislation like the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 might be used to police these violations. This will mean that libraries may be compelled to supply patron information to prosecutors. Comparable legislation has been used in the United States to obtain information about patrons suspected of being terrorists, and a current plan to incorporate radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging in San Francisco libraries to monitor the physical location of books is currently causing concern for United States civil liberty groups. EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien stated that "Libraries have long been very protective of library patron privacy given that surveillance of reading and borrowing records chills the exercise of First Amendment rights." It is hoped that this research will draw attention to these issues so that librarians and information Professionals can become more aware of the issues that arise from the relationship between information provision, electronic surveillance and law enforcement, and begin to address theses issues by becoming more actively involved in policy networks which impact upon the profession.

 

Abbreviations

DPMC

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

GCSB 

Government Communications Security Bureau

GOVIS           

Government Information Systems Managers' Forum

ILETS 

International Law Enforcement Telecommunications Seminar

IUR

International User Requirements

NSA

National Security Agency

NZSIS

New Zealand Security Intelligence Service

ODESC

Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination

PATRIOT Act

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act

RIP Act

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

         

Timeline of events and legislation relevant to information privacy and surveillance

Word War 2

Establishment of Signals Intelligence operations

1948

UKUSA Agreement

1969

Security Intelligence Service Act

1972

Preservation of Privacy Bill

1973

Law revision Commission Report urges establishment of agency responsible for privacy and related issues

1977

Government Communications Security Bureau Established

1978

Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act

1987

Crimes Act amended to allow for electronic interception of private communications relating to “organised Criminal Enterprise”

1988

Information authority report proposes Official Information (privacy) Bill

1990

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act

1993

Privacy Act

1996

Intelligence and Security Committee Act 1996

1997

Telecommunications Amendment Act

1997

Harassment and Criminal Association Bill

1999

New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Amendment Act

1999

Crimes Amendment Bill (No. 6)

2000

Supplementary Order Paper 85 added to Crimes Amendment Bill (No. 6)

2003

Telecommunication Information Privacy Code released by Privacy Commissioner

2003

Government Communications Security Bureau act places Government Communications Security Bureau on a statutory footing

           

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[1] The Select Committee report on the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill (2003) defines a network operator as “any person, company or business that owns, controls, or operates a telecommunications network that can be used for public communications”, and a service provider as “any person, company or business that provides a public telecommunications service to an end user”. Thus ISPs fall into the latter category, although in practice in New Zealand most network operators are also service providers.

[2] Nicky Hager is a prominent New Zealand researcher who, in the course of this research, was identified as having carried out investigations in a similar area. As well as participating in the project as an interviewee, Hager also kindly provided a number of documents obtained through an Official Information Act request which provided a great deal of  information relevant to the study of the passage of the Crimes Amendment Act (No.6) SOP 85 and the Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill (see later).

[3] Vivienne Morrell, then Senior Policy Adviser, Criminal Justice Group, Ministry of Justice.

[4] According to Peoples, Police involvement with the Ministry of Commerce began in 1995.