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ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, Thursday, July 4, 2013
OPINION
www.guardianONLINE.co.nz
Is Big Brother watching my every move? W
ho’s watching what I am typing right now? If I use the trigger words CIA or terrorist, some government lacky behind a computer screen somewhere in the world may have a quick look. And if I’m unlucky he’ll put a tick behind my name, which may result in a few difficult questions next time I travel through the United States. The past few months, we have all become more aware that we may be watched, and it doesn’t matter whether we are in Ashburton, New York or Kabul. Locally, the surveillance of Kim Dotcom and the subsequent
OUR VIEW court cases put the spotlight on the New Zealand intelligence agencies, while the on-going hunt for CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden has shown the world how widespread the spying on individuals has become. Currently, a Parliament select committee is discussing the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Amendment Bill, which will make it easier for the police, the Security Intelligence Service and the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders.
The bill is a direct response to the botched Dotcom surveillance last year when the GCSB broke our laws by spying on a New Zealand resident, even though they were merely helping another agency that did not have the appropriate equipment. As it turns out, Mr Dotcom was among 88 other Kiwis being spied on illegally. The Government now wants to legalise the use of GCSB technology on its own citizens as long as other agencies have gone through the appropriate
Coen Lammers editor
channels to get the necessary legal paperwork. Opposition leaders are vehemently attacking the new bill and suggesting that Big Brother will be in our living rooms shortly. One commentator this week described the legislation as the end of privacy.
Naturally, all Kiwis are concerned about maintaining our privacy and we should do everything to protect those rights. Hopefully our leaders will always resist a draconian bill like the American Patriot Act, which the Bush administration pushed through in the post 9-11 hysteria, and now allows American security services to get away with blue murder. They not only put surveillance on millions around the globe but seem to be able to detain and interrogate anyone they like without any judicial process. The Greens and Labour are justifiably alarmed that the New Zealand security forces are
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YOUR VIEW Letters to editor I express my disappointment with your policy of accepting anonymous letters and text messages. I have always been a strong supporter of open meetings in local government. The policy should work both ways. People giving their views to the community should be prepared to put their name to those comments.
• Name supplied preferable. • We reserve the right to publish at our discretion. • Messages do not represent the opinion of the Guardian.
We also welcome your letters, but: • We reserve the right to abridge, edit or not publish letters. • Correspondents are not permitted to use pen names, and for verification must provide address and contact number (neither for publication). • Letters should be no more than 300 words.
I agree with correspondents Lynton Laing and R. Bassett in Friday’s paper that the standard has deteriorated since your paper changed its policy. Murray Anderson
Councillors’ pay Needed was the letter from Mr Anderson to comment on the appalling attitude of councillors grizzling about their remuneration.
His reminder was gentle and did not mention that the town and district was built by councils who received no pay whatsoever who brought to the table vision and drive and importantly did not have an Order Paper providing so many items decided with the public excluded. It generally is a methodology which progresses items not fully supported by the public yet under cover leads to a situation which virtually imposes it upon
those expected to pay, none of the present council have disapproved, yet they must be aware that what surely is their prerogative has been stolen from them. If the administration feels they deserve payment surely in turn they should be expected to act in a manner that assures the electorate of integrity and honesty. Were it a private company it would indeed be bankrupt. M. N. Richards
Man charged with Moka’s murder A Northland tour guide charged with murdering his partner can be named for the first time after his appearance in the Kaikohe District Court yesterday. Sweeping suppressions lapsed when Mathew Wilson Korewha, also known as Matiu Wirihana Korewha, of Rawene, made a brief appearance and entered no plea to a charge of murdering Barbara Moka. The 43-year-old was remanded in custody to appear in the High Court at Whangarei later this month. Ms Moka was last seen alive in the Hokianga township of
Omanaia on the morning of June 9. Police said Ms Moka had been at a tangi at the Te Piiti Marae and left early the next morning with her partner. However, the vehicle they were in crashed several hundred metres from the marae about 1am. Her partner told police the pair then returned to the marae. She was later reported missing, sparking an intensive police investigation and search of bush surrounding the crash site. Her body was found last week in bush about 800 metres up a metal farm road between the marae and the crash scene.
Police later revealed her clothing, wallet and cellphone had vanished from her Rawene home. It is thought the property was taken in the days after she was killed. Police have appealed for help finding the missing property and for sightings of two vehicles on Sunday, June 9 and Monday, June 10. They are a red 1997 twodoor Toyota Cynos saloon, registration CBH261, and a greenand-grey 1990 Nissan Terrano, TF2603. It is understood the vehicles may have been used to remove Ms Moka’s property.
They were not stolen and police have stressed their usual occupants are not suspects in the inquiry. Searches have also been conducted at several properties, including Rawene locations, as police try to locate the missing property. Ms Moka, a mother of four, worked at the Copthorne Hotel in Omapere as a receptionist. She moved to Rawene last year from Auckland, where many of her whanau live. Her children, aged 7 to 15, did not live with her. Her family have requested privacy. - APNZ
Ryder privacy: An unacceptable breach By Rebecca Quilliam
We welcome your text messages, but:
And worse, if New Zealand is unable to demonstrate its ability to detect and tackle any potential threats, this country would quickly be identified as a soft touch and a favourite destination for criminals. We may not like it, but our security forces and our legislation need to adapt to the hazards of modern global technology. The new bill needs to provide the necessary transparency and legal framework for our authorities to keep us safe, but also needs to give New Zealanders the confidence that we can still write what we want without the CIA knocking on our door.
Dotcom accuses PM Key of lying
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sliding down this same slippery slope, while playing their part in international information gathering. New Zealanders need to be alert and vigilant that we protect our privacy, but we cannot be naïve and put a blanket ban on our security services over using their surveillance equipment on New Zealanders as the threats to this nation and other democratic countries do not stop at our boundaries. Whether these threats are of a criminal or political nature, bad people entering or living in New Zealand will not leave their intentions at Customs.
Hospital staff from three district health boards are facing disciplinary action for inappropriately accessing cricketer Jesse Ryder’s medical records while he was a patient at Christchurch Hospital earlier this year. Four staff members were working at Canterbury DHB, one at South Canterbury DHB and two at West Coast DHB. Ryder was admitted to the hospital in March after he was attacked outside a Christchurch bar. He suffered a head injury and spent two days in an induced coma. CDHB chief executive David Meates said three staff members at his DHB were facing disciplinary action. One staff member working at the hospital at the time had been seconded from another
DHB and a separate process had been undertaken relating to that employee. The staff members at West Coast and South Canterbury were being dealt with by management and the human resources department. Mr Meates said it was extremely disappointing that the behaviour of some staff was found wanting. “This incident is unacceptable and we have apologised unreservedly to Mr Ryder. It is, however, reassuring that our system of checks and balances has worked in bringing this to our attention.” Mr Meates said. “I want to reassure the public that patient confidentiality is paramount to CDHB. Patients should rightly expect their health information will be accessed only by staff involved in their care and treatment, or as part of a quality review process.” An investigation into the privacy breaches involved an audit
of all electronic patient information systems and was undertaken after Mr Ryder’s hospital stay. Any breach of patient confidentiality was taken very seriously, Mr Meates said. Ryder has been given a copy of the report findings and is satisfied with action CDHB has taken, he said. “From a systems perspective, we are able to ensure access to patient information is traceable. Every time a record is accessed an electronic ‘footprint’ is left on a patient’s file,” Mr Meates said. “That was how we were alerted to the inappropriate access to Mr Ryder’s electronic clinical information. It’s positive that the process works, but a huge disappointment that it had to.” It was found that the four CDHB staff who breached Mr Ryder’s privacy by looking at his electronic files did not pass on any of the information they viewed, Mr Meates said. - APNZ
FINDINGS * 85 CDHB staff members accessed Ryder’s file: - 66 were deemed to have clear legitimate access with no further action required - 17 did not have obvious reasons for access and an explanation was required - Two staff were identified as having accessed records via another staff member’s log-on * In total, 19 people were interviewed, with the following outcomes: - 15 were found to have legitimate reasons to access the file - Four did not
German internet tycoon Kim Dotcom says Prime Minister John Key is lying about what he knew about him before police raided his Coatesville home in January last year. Mr Dotcom made the claim to reporters after appearing yesterday before a parliamentary hearing into controversial new GCSB legislation where he outlined his concerns the new law would undermine New Zealanders’ privacy. In his submission he told the committee chaired by Mr Key that he had “the misfortune of experiencing what happens when surveillance powers are abused”. “These abuses should never happen again that’s why I’m here to speak out against the proposed spy law.” Mr Dotcom also told the committee he knew that Mr Key knew about him and his activities before a January 19, 2012 briefing which Mr Key says was the first he knew of the MegaUpload founder and alleged internet pirate. That briefing took place the day before Police raided Mr Dotcom’s Coatesville home. Speaking to reporters outside the committee room, Mr Dotcom said he had proof Mr Key had earlier knowledge of him. However, he could not provide the proof until he and his business associate Bram van der Kolk and two other colleagues appeared in court over a US bid to extradite them on internet piracy charges. “That has to come out in court and not here today.” “He lied to all New Zealanders when he said he didn’t know about me.” Accompanied by Mr van der Kolk, Mr Dotcom’s face-off with Mr Key in the committee room was at times testy, with the German businessman taking issue with the 15 minutes allocated for his presentation rather than the 25 minutes he thought he had. The verbal jousting between the two escalated when Mr Dotcom made his claim about Mr Key’s prior knowledge of him. “He knew about me before the raid”, Mr Dotcom said in response to a question from Labour Leader and committee member David Shearer. “I didn’t”, Mr Key replied. “You know I know,” Mr Dotcom
Kim Dotcom said. “I know you don’t know actually, but that’s fine”, Mr Key said, drawing laughter from those gathered in the packed out committee room. “Why are you turning red, Prime Minister?” Mr Dotcom asked. “I’m not. Why are you sweating?” was Mr Key’s response. “I’m hot”, Mr Dotcom said. Earlier, Mr Dotcom pointed to the recent reports of widespread monitoring of internet communications and spying on EU allies by US intelligence agencies. That was not a model that New Zealand should be trying to emulate, he told the committee. Mr Key had failed to explain why greater powers for the GCSB were needed. “We should avoid blindly following the US into the dark ages of spying abuse.” He said that in 1980s New Zealand had “stood up to the United States” by banning nuclear ships. Former Prime Minister David Lange’s “great stand” had given New Zealand “true independence and the moral high ground” albeit at the cost of billions of dollars in trade with the US. He questioned whether that “heroic stand” should be repeated with regard to surveillance issues. Mr Key is the chairman of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee which is having rare open sessions this week to hear submissions on the Government Communications Security and Related Legislation Amendment Bill. Arriving at Parliament for the hearing yesterday afternoon after travelling to Wellington by helicopter, Mr Dotcom was asked whether New Zealanders could trust this country’s spy agencies. His reply was “no”. - APNZ
Injured cyclist dies By James Ihaka A cyclist who was hit by a car while riding with a group of friends near Hamilton has died. Top cyclist and ironman competitor Craig Goulsbro’s life support system was switched off yesterday at Waikato Hospital. He was knocked off his bicycle on Monday by a motorist in an accident that also injured two other cyclists. Police said the father of one died surrounded by his close family late this afternoon. Friends paid tribute to the 50-year-old. “We send all our love to his very dearly loved wife, son and extended family and friends. This is a time we as a family club must come together for each other” said a post on the Hamilton City Cycling Club’s Facebook page. Craig Goulsbro was cycling with 14 friends when a car hit them just after nightfall on Monday. The accident on Puketaha Road, part of a route regularly frequented by Mr Goulsbro and his cycling mates, saw his close friend Chris Smith suffer a number of broken ribs and another friend, Bill Donaldson, was knocked uncon-
scious when the impact sent him flying into a fence. Both were discharged from hospital on Monday night. Mr Goulsbro, a warehouse manager, was unconscious when he was taken to hospital and surgeons told his family and friends he was unlikely to survive his injuries. Mr Goulsbro’s close friend and cycle shop owner Bob Puru said the group of cyclists got together regularly for social rides. On Monday night the experienced riders were celebrating the second anniversary of his Flagstaff shop opening with a 46km ride on the outskirts of Hamilton. Mr Puru, who spoke to riders in the group after the accident, was told they were riding single file and all had reflective clothing and lighting. He was told the driver of the car somehow slid behind the pack before the accident. The impact caused Mr Goulsbro to slam into the Ford Falcon’s windscreen before he rebounded into other riders in the pack. Hamilton police said it appeared the driver did not see all of the cyclists when overtaking them and pulled back into the group. They said they were still investigating the accident. - APNZ