Council Misuse of RIPA - No Change
Stop snooping on the public, councils told - Times Online
Local councils are to be barred from using surveillance powers to snoop on members of the public suspected of minor offences such as dog fouling, the Home Secretary is to announce today.
“While the vast majority of the investigations that are carried out under Ripa are important – like protecting the public from dodgy traders, trapping fly-tippers who dump tonnes of rubbish on an industrial scale across the countryside, or tackling the misery caused by noisy and disruptive neighbours – there are clearly cases where these powers should not be used,” she will announce..
In other words, a slap on the wrist for generating bad publicity for The Project but carry on, just more carefully.