Nassau, Bahamas, February 14, 2017 – Phone tapping is to be legal in The Bahamas and the country’s Attorney General calls the ICB or Interception Communications Bill a tremendous stride in the fight against crime while defending that it is only to be used for criminal investigations.
AG, Allyson Maynard Gibson, in clarifying rumors that now everyone will be fair game and can be spied upon, defended the legislation and said that is not the case and that law abiding citizens and residents need not fear the the ICB policy. “The ICB enhances protection of the privacy of law abiding citizens because it is the Supreme Court (not the Executive) that makes the determination that the communications may be intercepted. This is the first time that Bahamian law places this authority solely in the hands of the independent judiciary.”
The watch dog over how the tactic is used and not abused is the Supreme Court which, it is explained, “will ensure that adequate checks and balances are in place to protect rights of privacy on the one hand and combat crime (including cyber crime) on the other. Any suggestion that this is a “dangerous spying Bill” is false.”
The introduction of the legislation now calls for the legislature to consider a revision of the current LDA law or the listening Devices Act, which was crafted in 1972 and is clearly outdated now.
The Bahamas joins the worldwide community – including the United States, the United Kingdom, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and most recently St. Kitts & Nevis – to enact similar legislation permitting the lawful interception of communications.
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