Open letter to John Key: the right to know

This letter is partly in response to the findings of the Kitteridge report about the GCSB and their failures to follow the law, but is also mindful of the recent PRISM revelations about the actions of the NSA in the USA, as well as the mass spying revealed to have been carried out by the GCHQ in the United Kingdom.

As disturbing as these revelations have been, we cannot help but be shocked that this surveillance was done in secret without the knowledge of the citizens of each country.

We assert that, as citizens of a democratic society, we have the right to know the methods that government agencies use to watch us. Without this knowledge we cannot assert our rights to put appropriate limits on their use.

We are writing to you as you are the Minister responsible for both the SIS and the GCSB, but we are asking for information about spying and surveillance by all parts of government. We ask that you answer the following questions:

1. Are any agencies building up databases of metadata (information about information - e.g. call data) about New Zealanders who are not targets of an active investigation?
    
2. Does any agency have access to the central nodes of New Zealand's phone or data telecommunications networks to collect communications or metadata?
    
3. Is any agency tapping into the Southern Cross cable to collect communications or metadata?
    
4. Is any agency intercepting satellite transmissions to collect communications or metadata?
    
5. Does any surveillance agency have access to the information stored in large corporate databases (e.g. banks, Trademe, power companies) except through the use of an approved warrant targeted at an individual or specific group?
    
6. Does any surveillance agency have access to the information stored in large government databases such as those held by Customs, WINZ, Corrections or any other government entity except through the use of an approved warrant targeted at an individual or specific group?
    
7. Does any agency accept mass data, either metadata or communications, from overseas agencies about New Zealanders who not the targets of an active investigation?
    
8. Does any agency accept intelligence from overseas agencies or allies that have been derived from their spying on New Zealanders communications?
    
9. What is the government doing to protect NZ communications from spying by the UK and USA?
    
10. Are there any other forms of surveillance or spying that would not have been included in the answers to the earlier questions?
     
11. Finally, does any agency have any plans (especially in light of the TICS and GCSB Bills) to implement any systems which would change the substance of your answers?

Yours,

Tech Liberty

Thomas Beagle is founder of Tech Liberty and an executive committee member of the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties.