And people wonder why the left are suspicious of the police...

An Auckland peace activist who sent an email to the United States embassy objecting to the war on Iraq has been charged with the misuse of a telephone. [...]

Mr Hubbard last night said he had been charged under the Telecommunications Act and had been told by police they would seize information from his computer under the Counter-Terrorism Act.

Full story here.

I think this is a perfect example of why we should be extremely cautious of granting the police wider powers for anything. They've proven here that they cannot be trusted, and that (despite the government's assurances to the contrary) they regard political protests as terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Sock Thief's reaction to this? He's amused at watching the "paranoid Left waste time and energy on conspiracy theories". The "intelligent left", it seems, are not concerned with such petty things as civil liberties...