The Cayman Islands Human Right Commission agreed in March that newly adopted regulations that allow police to intercept communications were in compliance with international human rights standards.
However, according to the minutes of the commission’s March meeting, the watchdog board did have some issues with how checks and balance measures for those regulations are proceeding.
“HRC was concerned to note that the audit committee [formed by the regulations] has yet to be appointed and the commission will write to the governor urging … Cabinet to appoint the committee as soon as possible,” the minutes of the March meeting indicated.
No response had been received by press time from Governor Duncan Taylor’s office as to whether the audit committee had been formed since the HRC’s March meeting.
According to the regulations, the committee must consist of five members: a local Justice of the Peace (who will serve as chairperson); a retired judge, magistrate or lawyer; the chief officer of the government Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs; an information technology specialist who is employed by government; and a technical expert in the area of communications interception who is from a law enforcement agency outside Cayman.
Regulations attached to the Information and Communications Technology Authority Law approved last year allow “any person employed by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service to intercept a message in relation to a matter or person” for the purposes of gathering intelligence.
The interception of the message – which can include any form of communication such as telephones, post, e-mail, text messages and the like – must be authorised by a warrant issued directly from Cayman’s governor. The warrant would have to be addressed to the RCIPS commissioner, who may then authorise a police service employee to execute it.
In January, the Human Rights Commission did express some concerns about the measure: “Following a review of the [Legislative Assembly] Hansard, the commission could not find any contribution to the debate on behalf of the governor by either the deputy governor or the attorney general to explain the reasons or justification for such a policy.”
Part of the telecommunications interception regulations establish an audit committee to periodically review the governor’s issuance of warrants under the regulations, but that review would occur only after the warrant is granted.
“The new regulations do not give police a free hand in monitoring anyone’s communications,” the RCIPS has previously noted.
Concerns about the lack of judicial oversight relative to the telecommunications interception warrants have been raised previously by members of Cayman’s opposition political party.
“There is no judicial oversight of this,” Opposition Leader Alden McLaughlin said last year. “There is this very cosy committee of two [referring to the governor and the police commissioner]. There are justifiable reasons for police doing this, but we know that the UK doesn’t always act honourably.”
Under the telecommunications regulations, the governor would need a specific reason for issuing such a warrant.
Those include: the interests of national security, preventing or detecting serious crime, averting an imminent threat to human life, for circumstances that fall within the scope of international mutual assistance agreements, or to safeguard the economic well-being of the Cayman Islands.
The regulations also state the governor must be “satisfied that the interception of the message is proportionate to the ends sought to be achieved by intercepting the message and the information sought to be obtained cannot be obtained by other less intrusive means”.
According to the Interception of Telecommunication Messages regulations, no evidence can be adduced or disclosure made for the purposes of any legal proceeding or proceeding of a Commission of Inquiry.
That means intelligence gathered in the course of any communications interception activities cannot be used in a court or formal inquiry proceeding.
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That means intelligence gathered in the course of any communications interception activities cannot be used in a court or formal inquiry proceeding…
may I add
… but by members of the international spying agencies over the overseas territories.
In other words, these measures with cctv camaras and devices, are just setting us up for social control by the UK special interest. And if you think that is conspiracy, read the history of the fco!
I agree with Bodden and will take it a step further. When I was in Russia. I remember the feeling of being constantly watched and listened to..even though the devises on the walls in EVERY room of the place we were living in was suppose to be disabled! Now head over to CUBA where I was followed and my sister in law was arrested for being a sex trade worker for hanging out with us. She was only released once we could show pictures of her with our family in Cayman and pictures of her husband, my brother, at his funeral and wedding. We are watched by CCTV and now we are being listened to whenever someone else feels the need to invade our privacy at their WILL. What next? When will the camps be built. STOP THIS MADNESS!! Why has our government allowed this nonsense?
There are two sides to this sensitive matter:
1. These measures will help us fight crime; and,
2. These measures will make us more susceptible to invasion of privacy and like what Bodden said, social control by certain elite.
I just dont why all of sudden they are bringing all of this out the public. I mean havent they been watching us from a long time ago???
This isn’t nonsense…this is a dangerous and threatening development for Cayman.
What made the Human Rights Commission do a U-turn and reverse its original position ?
This is the fact that should worry people who recognise this for what it really is; a threat to civil liberties and the right to privacy to Cayman’s residents…and visitors, alike.
Once any authority is given for any non-judicial reviewed or ordered wire, phone and electronic surveillance…and the apparatus set up to do it…
You can be 100% sure of one thing…Cayman’s private communication will be under constant monitor and surviellance by police authorities…and not only those in Cayman.
With this type of weak, collaborative compliance and decision from the Human Rights Commission, the body supposedly set up to guard and protect citizens rights from the abuse of government authority, its clear that no assistance or intervention will be forthcoming from that quarter when this law is abused..as it cerainly will be.
This HRC is turning out to be nothing more than a govt rubber stamp body, with no agenda or resolve to tackle Cayman’s human rights issues…similar to what the information commissioner, Jennifer Dilbert is doing with the Freedom of Information laws.
The greatest danger here is to Cayman international financial community, as the American, British and European tax authorities would LOVE to have access to all private financial communication, something they would have been denied…until now.
I can almost guarantee..the first institutions to come under unsupervised tapping and electronic surveillance will be…
The offshore financial instututions, including banks and hedge funds managers.
Anyone who would actually trust to believe the information from the govt in this Caycompass report would be mad !
It obviously hasn’t dawned on Cayman’s citizens yet that with the Governor as the sole decider and arbitrator over who gets spyed-on or not, the Cayman Islands has in fact been turned into a police state with the stroke of a pen.
Why are the Caymanians allowing the British Government to covertly take over the Cayman Islands ?
Without a whimper of protest from anyone !
Would anyone reading this recognize Ken Dart if he walked past you in the street? Probably not because he has the good sense to keep his images off the Internet.
Want to protect your privacy?
Start by deleting your FaceBook account. Although deleting the account doesn’t mean that you have deleted your information.
Remember, the Member Agreement with FaceBook says that anything you post on their site becomes THEIR property.
I well remember those days when Cayman bankers would go to jail if they released any information about you. Now it appears they might go to jail if they don’t!
So now even our private chats with our loved ones could be listened to without our knowledge.
Of course our emails have been read by the USA and UK for years, just Google Echelon for more info.
The lesson. Don’t do or say anything on the phone or by email that you wouldn’t be happy to appear on the front page of this fine newspaper.