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Telephone metering

01 November 1992

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A survey by the newspaper Scotland on Sunday on the practice of police forces asking British Telecom to provide lists of phone numbers called by a "target" showed a wide variation in the rank of officers authorised to make such requests (see Statewatch, vol 2 no 5). In Fife is has to be at the rank of Assistant Chief Constable, while Central Scotland police force it is only a deputy chief inspector. The Lothian and Borders police had made requests on 35 occasions, Strathclyde 10 times and Grampian 3 times. The practice falls outside of the Interception of Communication Act 1985 because the technique is not regarded as interception . British Telecom told the Scottish Council for Civil Liberties that its procedures were "carefully controlled by our senior management teams' but were unable to provide a breakdown of the volume of requests as "this information is not available". Carole Ewart, SCCL's director, said it was shocking BT could not provide figures for such a "carefully controlled system".

Scotland on Sunday 6.9.92.

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