New Zealand had made a stand on principle, in not allowing ''atomic-powered and/or armed vessels in our national waters''.
''We should stand tall once again for freedom and privacy,'' he said of proposed law changes relating to the Government Communications Security Bureau. Prof Wolfe, a computer security specialist in the University of Otago information science department, said many New Zealanders undertook most of their everyday communication electronically - through cellphone calls, text messages and email.
These messages could already be intercepted by using existing technology, but current law protected their privacy, requiring a court-approved warrant before surveillance took place.
If proposed changes to GCSB law were approved, New Zealand was likely to go the way of Britain, the United States and Australia, where governments used powerful monitoring software and private discussions could be intercepted by ''flipping a switch''. Privacy was ''not a privilege granted arbitrarily by any government'' but was a basic human right enshrined in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Prof Wolfe emphasised that he was ''not anti-GCSB'' and said it undertook ''an important function for our country''.
But New Zealand intelligence agencies already had sufficient powers.
The proposed intrusions into privacy usually happened in totalitarian countries, and had a ''very chilling'' effect on democracies, he said.
The Government recently sought to allay fears that the changed legislation would allow the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders without a warrant, by indicating the bureau would be required to seek authorisation from the responsible minister and Commissioner of Security Warrants when intercepting New Zealanders' communications.
Prof Kevin Clements and Prof Richard Jackson, both of Otago University, also recently warned that effectively merging the GCSB and SIS undermined court-related oversight of SIS activities.
