Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Statement clarifying Martyn Bradbury's privacy complaint
Earlier this year, blogger Martyn Bradbury made a complaint to our office about a request from Police to his bank for information about him. We investigated that complaint, and recently sent him our final view on the matter.
Among other things, we concluded that Police had collected his information in an unlawful way by asking for such sensitive information without first putting the matter before a judicial officer. Our view is that this was a breach of Principle 4 of the Privacy Act, which forbids agencies from collecting information in an unfair, unreasonable or unlawful way.
Our investigation, as with all our investigations, only addressed the facts of this case. We concluded that Police action in this case constituted an interference with Mr Bradbury’s privacy.
We are taking the unusual step of offering a public comment on this case, as the matter has been the subject of considerable public discussion, including claims of a “secret Police mass surveillance program against 100,000 New Zealanders”.
We have no reason to believe that any such mass surveillance programme exists.
ENDS
For further information, contact Sam Grover 021 959 050