The risks of buying a camera on eBay

In all the brouhaha surrounding the ongoing problems in the world economy and (in Brum at least) the Tory Party conference, a rather odd story appears to have avoided as much coverage as it perhaps deserves.

It concerns the bizarre tale of a 28-year old delivery man in Hemel Hempstead and a camera he had bought on eBay and taken on holiday. On his return to Blighty, he downloaded his holiday snaps only to find pictures of rocket launchers and missiles which he definitely hadn't taken. He then went to his local police station, where, according to reports, the story was initially treated as a joke.

Imagine the poor chap's surprise when Special Branch descended on his home a few days later - interviewing him and his family on 5 separate occasions - before allegedly seizing his camera and computer (which were replaced at a cost to the public purse of £1,000). It turns out that, in addition to the rockets and missiles (which might be on their way to al-Qaeda), the camera is supposed to have contained details of al-Qaeda cells in the UK as well as the encrypted computer system used by MI6 agents working abroad.

Leaving aside my concerns that this appears to be the latest in a seemingly never-ending-list of 'confidential information found in laptop' stories - but how on earth did this happen? - one particular aspect of the story gives the lawyer in me significant cause for concern: I don't think that Special Branch had any right to confiscate his computer. This may well contain all sorts of personal information from the trivial (his favourite music) to the more serious (bank accounts) which are none of the police's business.

We are all entitled to private lives and this bloke had done absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, he appears to have acted in an entirely proper and civically-minded manner. The disruption to his private life and invasion of his privacy seem entirely disproportionate.

In making this point, I hope I am not coming across as naïve. Security and the need to protect us from terrorism is of huge importance, and will inevitably involve restrictions on our freedoms from time to time. However, the police's actions in this case seem over-the-top. Having satisfied themselves that the bloke hadn't committed a crime and wasn't a threat to national security, why didn't they remove the photos from the computer and leave things there?

I end with an apology for the fact that this blog is somewhat circumspect in its factual summary. That's because the police have forbidden the "shocked family" from speaking to the media. I can't help but wonder if he's hoping that the computer doesn't end up on eBay in a few months' time.