More news has unfolded in the Irish Garda saga, after it was discovered the police force of Ireland had been recording incoming and outgoing calls in its stations around the country. According to the latest reports, plans to install recording equipment were underway for 21 stations around Ireland in 2007.
The contract for the complicated system to replace an older system and, according to sources, the system was to be complex enough to archive calls that were related to a specific incident for easier access.
Details of a contract to install recording equipment have been sought by the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee, which is considering whether to carry out further investigations.
Martin Callinan, Garda Commissioner, retired on the same day the scandal was disclosed, thus inviting further scrutiny.
The committee will seek to examine contracts for the recording of phone calls in prisons, following revelations conversations between prisoners and solicitors were recorded.
The heart of the matter is misuse of public money and whether this was at all legal to begin with.
Is it legal to covertly record private conversations without prior consent in Ireland? The answer is yes and no. If a person or any other entity records a conversation or telephone call and they are not a party to that conversation, it is illegal. The only exception to this is when the third party is authorized by the government and obtains a legal and valid warrant, like during an investigation by the Garda.
According to the Garda website, the agency must "abide by The Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 and the Code of Practice is to ensure each employee of An Garda Síochána has an understanding of the concepts of Data Protection and is aware of their own responsibilities. This, in turn, will assist An Garda Síochána in its compliance as an organization."
There is a lot of gray areas that are being addressed, and has shown the country requires a “new approach to policing,” Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said.
This mirrors similar call recording laws here in the U.S. Federal law generally provides that a call may be recorded if one person to the call consents. This is known as “one-party consent.” Thus, any person who initiates and participates in a call may also record that call under federal law, with a few exceptions.
Most state laws are similar to federal law in this regard. However, some states require the consent of all parties to a call, called “two-party consent” rules.
There are important questions of law that must be addressed when it comes to call recording. Both federal and state statutes govern the use of electronic recording equipment. The unlawful use of such equipment can give rise not only to a civil suit by the receiving party, but also criminal prosecution.
While these laws primarily deal with businesses conducting matters with consumers, the controversies surrounding them are the same. It brings to light more pressing matters as they relate to privacy, and since the NSA scandal here in the U.S., people are taking these matters more seriously.
Americans are struggling to cover their Internet tracks, according to recent survey results from the Pew (News - Alert) Research Center’s Internet Project and Carnegie Mellon University late last year.
The Pew Research Center report said 86 percent of U.S. Internet users have taken some steps to avoid online surveillance by other people or organizations. These steps include clearing cookies and encrypting e-mails.
It wasn’t long ago that a report from the Washington Post showed that the National Security Agency (News - Alert) in the United States violated privacy rules thousands of times since 2008.
According to internal NSA audits leaked to the paper, privacy breaches have occurred 2,776 times in one year ending in May 2012, consisting of mostly “unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States.”
Edited by Alisen Downey