The Wire

Protesters at a David Hicks vigil in the Blue Mountains were alarmed on Friday when two uniformed police officers took their picture. When they asked if they had broken the law, they were told they hadn’t. However, the officers refused to say why their photos were being taken and a visit to the local station did not result in the protesters getting their pictures back. The protestors are now lobbying their local member on the issue. Now a former Privacy ombudsman has expressed concern that this is part of a wider trend that can lead to discrimination in the work place and undue focus by security intelligence bodies. The Privacy Committee was the first statutory body set up to deal with the impact of the surveillance activities of the Special Branches of the state police forces in the 1970s. Bill Orme is a former executive member the Privacy Committee from 1975 to 1982 and a former head of the Australian Law Reform Commission and he discussed the implications of photos at demonstrations.