New Zealand Spy Agency Head Denies Claims of Mass Surveillance on Kiwis
By Reissa Su | May 8, 2014 11:56 AM EST
New Zealand's Government Communications and Security Bureau (GCSB) head Ian Fletcher has denied accusations that the spy agency is conducting a mass surveillance on Kiwis. In a seminar in Wellington organised by the Privacy Commission on May 7, Mr Fletcher said the country has legitimate concerns in preventing organised crime, terrorism and nuclear arms trade.
The spy agency head said the actual surveillance affects only a few people whom he said are "doing really bad stuff." Mr Fletcher said it would take a huge increase in his salary budget to implement mass surveillance. He added it would be impractical because the agency will need 130,000 staff to listen to everyone's phone calls and monitor their text messages.
The GCSB head went on to refute what he described as a "libertarian fantasy" or state security was necessary and the "paranoid fantasy" in which the state was "out to get you." He repeatedly mentioned Thomas Hobbes, a British philosopher who argued a "strong state" was required to keep the public's evil tendencies in line ...
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/551631/20140508/new-zealand-gcsb-spy-agency-mass-surveillance.htm
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