Part 1: General Privacy Protections Section 11: Offence of unlawfully obtaining communications data
This section creates the offence of knowingly or recklessly obtaining communications data from a telecommunications or postal operator without lawful authority. The offence may be committed by a person within a public authority with powers to acquire communications data under Part 3 of the Act. It is a defence if a person in a public authority can show that they acted in the reasonable belief that they had lawful authority to obtain the communications data.