… can’t think who it might have been, though.

Oh wait, it was me.

Using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was sold as a way to restrict snooping by the state, Poole Borough Council have been spying on toddlers.

Poole Borough Council has admitted using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), designed to regulate snooping by police and other bodies, to check the usual address of a three-year-old child applying for a primary school place.
…
From 13 February until 3 March the family’s house was put under surveillance.

Surveillance logs show the family were watched at home and their car was followed

I did a piece of work on the RIPA while at uni; it was the best mark I got in any coursework because I got so into it. And even I didn’t think that so many state agencies would be using the powers this quickly in such a scary manner; I though we’d be on a timescale of decades before such minnows started abusing it like this.

Somehow, though, I’m not surprised that I was wrong…