"(1) It shall be an offence for a person intentionally and without lawfully authority to intercept, at any place in the United Kingdom, any communication in the course of its transmission by means of:..... (b) a public telecommunication system."
"(2) For the purposes of this Act, but subject to following provisions of this section, a person intercepts a communication in the course of its transmission by means of a telecommunications system if, and only if, he- (a) so modifies or interferes with the system, or its operation (b) so monitors transmissions made by means of the system, or (c) so monitors transmissions made by wireless telegraphy to or from apparatus comprised in the system. as to make some or all of the contents of the communication available, while being transmitted, to a person other than the sender or intended recipient of the communication."
"(8). For the purposes of this section the cases in which any contents of a communication are to be taken to be made available to a person while being transmitted shall include any case in which any of the contents of the communication, while being transmitted, are diverted or recorded so as to be available to a person subsequently."
"Any system... which exists... for the purpose of facilitating the transmission of communications by any means, involving the use of electrical or electromagnetic energy."
"Our conclusions are as follows. First, we hold that the interception of a communication takes place when, and at the place where, the electrical impulse or signal which is passing along telephone line is intercepted in fact. Secondly, if there is an interception of the private system, the communication which is intercepted is not, at that time, passing through the public system. It is not, in our judgment, in the course of transmission by means of the public telecommunications system. Thirdly, the fact that later or earlier signals, either have formed part of, or will form part of, the same communication or message, does not mean that the interception takes place at some other place or time. Finally, 'communication' in our judgment does not refer to the whole of the transmission or the message; it refers to the telephonic communication which is intercepted in fact, and on the evidence to which I have referred that consists of what has variously been described as the electrical impulse or signal which is affected by the interception that is made."
"We have reached the clear conclusion that that approach is adopted to the fact of this case, there was no interception of the communication within the means of section 1(1) of the 1995 Acts. As we understand it the listening device simply heard and recorded what Harris said into his telephone. There was thus no interception of an electrical impulse or signal passing through a telecommunication system. The situation was in essence the same as it would have been if the conversations had been heard by a policeman, say hiding in the boot, or standing on the pavement."
"The phrase 'in the course of its transmission' by means of a postal service or telecommunication system has been carefully chosen by Parliamentary counsel to cover a particular set of circumstances. The course of transmission begins where a postal service or telecommunication system first begins to transmit a communication. In a telephone, the sound waves from the human voice first begin to be in the course of their transmission by means of a telephone communication when they are received by the microphone in the hand set. They continue to be in the course of their transmission until they are emitted by the speaker. Such phraseology ensures one is not technically intercepting a communication if one is in the same room as someone using a telephone and one happens to overhear what is being said. In the same way, listening to a voice from a speakerphone is not interception: the sound waves have left the communication system on which they were transmitted and hence no longer technically in the course of their transmission. That is what we have in mind, and why we have used the phraseology."
"2. Whereas confidentiality of communications is guaranteed in accordance with the international instruments relating to human rights in particular the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the constitutions of the Member States..."
"12.....whereas it is for Member States to take such measures as they consider necessary for the protection of public security, defence, state security (including the economic well-being of the State when the activities relate to state security matters) and the enforcement of criminal law; whereas this directive shall not affect the ability of Member States carry out lawful interception of telephone communications for any of these purposes." 39. Next, Article 3: "
"Member states may adopt legislative measures to restrict the scope of the obligations and rights provided for in Articles 5.... when such restriction, constitutes a necessary measure to safeguard.... the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences...."
"The use of a surveillance device should not be ruled out simply because it may incidentally pick up one end of a telephone conversation. However, its use would not be appropriate where its purpose is to overhear speech which is being transmitted by a public telecommunications system. In such a case, application must be made for warrant under the Interception of communications Act 1985." "