Fined For Illegally Tapping Phone

The Icelandic government was ordered to pay a woman 300.000 ISK after Iceland’s Special Prosecutor was caught illegally tapping her phone, reports Vísir.

The Icelandic government was also ordered to cover the woman’s legal costs, 550.000 ISK.

In June 2011, Iceland’s Special Prosecutor was given permission to tap the phone of a man between the 10th of June, 2011 and 19th of June, 2011. The Special Prosecutor had permission to listen in on and record the man’s phone conversations, voice-mails and any SMS’s sent or received during that period.

The Special Prosecutor however, did not have permission to tap the phone of the man’s wife, but did so anyway.

The woman argued that the phone tapping was not only a gross breach of her rights to privacy but that as a nurse it could have compromised the privacy of her patients.