MoS victory as May promises to protect reporters’ sources
JOURNALISTS across Britain will be able to protect the identities of whistleblowers and confidential sources from the police under a new law to be unveiled this week, in a victory for The Mail on Sunday’s campaign for press freedom.
The legislation, which will be announced by Home Secretary Theresa May on Wednesday, comes after this newspaper exposed how police used controversial anti-terrorism powers to hack the phone records of MoS journalists and other media organisations.
Last year we reported how police used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to uncover the identity of the whistleblower who revealed how former Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne avoided speeding points by claiming his wife was driving the car at the time. The story led to his downfall as a Minister. Huhne and his wife, Vicky Pryce, were later found guilty of perverting the course of justice and each sentenced to eight months in jail.
Journalists from The Sun and several local papers also had their phone records hacked.
Now the Home Secretary will ensure that whistleblowers and confidential sources will be protected, unless a reporter breaks the law or a serious crime is being investigated.
The Investigatory Powers Bill is likely to require police to obtain a warrant from a new Investigatory Powers Commissioner, who will be a senior judge, before they can obtain journalists’ phone records or monitor their calls.
Police will also have to request permission to access the webbrowsing history of anyone they are investigating.
But Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, warned that the new Bill will still allow the Government to collect bulk internet data. ‘The biggest outrages in this plan remain – we are to be hacked, tracked and spied on as an entire population with no prior judicial authorisation,’ she said.
Separately, David Cameron came under fresh attack over a Government review into Freedom of Information rules. In today’s Mail on Sunday, senior Tory MP David Davis brands the review ‘a pretence’ to restrict FoI requests. The former Shadow Home Secretary accuses the Prime Minister of aiming to curb ‘the right of the British public to know exactly what their government is doing in their name’.