2013 Annual Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner
3.60 Even though I am satisfied there is a good culture of self reporting, investigations
by my office this year have identified that there is a lack of consistency in relation to the
types of instances that are reported. This is because different thresholds and judgments
are applied by each interception agency.
3.61 It is my view that there should be an equivalent error provision in the Interception
of Communications Code of Practice to that in the Communications Data Code of Practice.
Since errors are not easily classified, it requires a lot of thought as to how that provision
should be expressed. In the absence of this I will be seeking to agree a memorandum of
understanding in this area with the interception agencies to ensure there is consistency
in the judgments that are applied and ultimately the errors that are reported. The
consultation between my office and the interception agencies on this subject to date has
Figure 3 Breakdown of Interception Errors
incorrect
communications
address intercepted
19%
stored
communications
acquired
without
lawful authority
14%
no lawful authority
for interception
11%
inadequate discharge
of section 15/16 duties
42%
failure to take steps to
cancel interception
9%
telephone number attributed
to wrong target
5%
indicated that this initiative would be welcomed.
3.62 With the preceding paragraphs in mind, the total number of interception errors
reported to our office during the calendar year was 57. The breakdown of the causes of
these errors is contained in Figure 3.
3.63 66% of the errors were attributable to the interception agencies and 20% to the
Communication Service Providers (CSPs) when giving effect to an interception warrant.
14% of the errors were caused by police forces not having the necessary authority in place
to access stored communications from mobile devices or computers (i.e. text messages,
voice mails and emails). It is important to note that these errors were not made by the
interception agencies in relation to lawful interception warrants.
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