During the negotiation process a draft copy of the bill[4] was leaked by the Labour Party via its blog Red Alert.

[5] The proposed bill was criticised by lawyers,[6][7] civil libertarians, and the media,[8] and by the Mana,[9] Māori[10] and Green[11] parties.

An attempt by the Labour Party to compromise by using clauses from the Search and Surveillance Bill was rejected by the government as "legislative field surgery".

[17][18] The bill was heavily criticised by submitters, with the Criminal Bar Association calling it "legal magic dust", and constitutional lawyer Andrew Geddis an "overreaction".

[25] The effect of the Act was limited to covert video surveillance connected to searches conducted within six months of it becoming law.