The Birmingham Mail have published an article on the investigation into 'How much 'covert surveillance' of individuals has been conducted by Midlands councils?'

The story mis-attributes quotes from James Ball's blog post analysing the data to myself (although I'm working on getting that corrected), but does add a useful response from the council:

"A council spokeswoman said: “Birmingham City Council, like other local authorities, is using these powers to respond to residents’ complaints about issues such as fly-tippers, benefit fraudsters and rip-off merchants, which is precisely what the act is intended for.

"“We are recognised as an exemplar of national best practice in this area, using it only when necessary and proportionate.”"

This post is tagged

• birmingham mail
• birmingham city council
• james ball
• RIPA
• surveillance