CAMDEN’S legal chiefs considered the possibility of prosecuting a New Journal journalist over a special investigation which exposed Town Hall security flaws, secret emails reveal.
Camden’s chief executive Moira Gibb was handed advice over whether or not to take legal action after reporter Richard Osley revealed major lapses on the council’s telephone network.
It was later decided that any legal case would attract unwelcome publicity.
The investigation in April last year found that large sections of the network could be unlocked at ease, giving prospective hackers access to scores of voicemail boxes, from sensitive accounts in the social services department to the inboxes in Ms Gibb’s office.
Until the problem was exposed by the New Journal, a saboteur could have freely deleted important messages or caused havoc by altering answer-phone greetings.
Controls were immediately tightened after the revelations were presented to Town Hall officials.
But, although the investigation brought about much-needed changes, e-mail correspondence obtained by the New Journal under the new Freedom of Information Act shows that lawyers considered prosecution, which could have resulted in a jury trial.
Advice sent from the legal department to Ms Gibb said reporters might have been in breach of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
It stated: “This makes it an offence to intentionally and without lawful authority intercept a communication on a private telephone system... The definition of ‘private telephone system’ would include Camden’s internal telephone system.”