British local council uses criminal law to spy on school place applicants

Here is a shocking example of why intrusive powers need to be carefully circumscribed and subject to judicial oversight, otherwise they will be abused.

A local council in the UK (not surprisingly) has used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, designed for serious crimes and terrorism, to surveil a three-year-old to determine if her parent's were misrepresenting place of abode to get into a better school. See: Council uses criminal law to spy on school place applicants Society The Guardian.

"The Home Office said the RIPA legislation did not appear to have been used inappropriately."