The one admitted interception of a telephone call to which Mr. Malone was a party involved an
"interference" with the exercise of his right to respect for his private life and his correspondence. In
addition, as a suspected receiver of stolen goods, Mr. Malone was a member of a class of persons
against whom measures of postal and telephone interception were liable to be employed. This being
so, the existence in England and Wales of laws and practices which permit and establish a system for
carrying out secret surveillance of communications amounted in itself to such an "interference", apart
from any concrete measures taken against him