22 July 2013
The country’s top spooks will be
meeting in Wellington tomorrow (July 23) for the annual conference of
the NZ Institute of Intelligence Professionals (NZIIP).
Every day, more details about large
scale spying by the NSA, the GCHQ and other agencies is being
revealed.
“The spy industry seems to be
un-fazed by the Snowden leaks and is carrying on with business as
usual,” OASIS spokesperson Anna Thorby said.
“And why wouldn’t they? The NZ
government is giving them a clear message of more business to come by
pushing through a Bill that would legalise the GCSB’s spying on New
Zealanders.”
“SIS director Warren Tucker has been
the patron for the NZIIP since its start in 2008 and is about to
become a ‘fellow’ of the institute.”
At the institute’s inaugural meeting,
then prime minister Helen Clark gave a speech in which she indicated
that she already knew about the NSA and GCHQ’s blanket collection
of communication.
Clark said: “For some states […]
the protective imperative has led to the balance being struck in
favour of providing their intelligence organizations with access to
large data sets.”
The title of this year’s conference
is “Exploring Behavioural Drivers” and speakers will focus on how
to use those large data sets to predict people’s behaviour.
“While the state is saying that this
is used to detect terrorist plans, it can equally be used to suppress
any form of political dissent and to influence debate,” Ms Thorby
said.
“In the light of recent events
highlighting the exposure of both the NSA and GCSB’s illegal
surveillance, it should not be business as usual for the spies. There
should be no more strengthening of ties between the corporate and
state spies. Rather it is time to step back and re-evalaute the whole
UKUSA Agreement. NZ should pull out of it now.”
ENDS
