The PSNI made 21 applications for communications data to identify journalists' sources without recognising the "overriding public interest" in protecting their confidentiality. The police force maintained a secret register containing the phone numbers of over 1,000 journalists and others, as part of a "defensive operation" to identify PSNI staff who had spoken to journalists. There were concerns about a PSNI operation to monitor the social media posts of investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre.
"Our passports have been secretly turned into mugshots. The government has taken all of our passport photos and secretly turned them into mugshots to build a giant, Orwellian police database."