Activists say the Government's plans to extend police powers of search and surveillance effectively lead New Zealand toward a police state - but the Government says the bill is aimed at improving powers to catch real criminals.
Police raided homes around the country two years ago, 18 arrested in the so-called terror raids.
It was the culmination of a year of covert police surveillance - methods questioned for their legality, and ruled insufficient to support the planned terrorism charges.
Fast forward two years, and there is a bill before Parliament today giving police far greater powers enshrined in law to snoop, monitor and search. It has protesters worried.
"If police acted in the same way after the passing of this bill as they did on October 15, 2007, they would be on the legal side whereas what's happened since then is a lot of the evidence thrown out," says activist Marcus Graf.
"Anybody who's arrested or detained, police have the right to go an search their place without a warrant," says activist Annemarie Thorby.
"We are going down an extremely dangerous line in terms of democracy in this country," says activist Graham Howell.
The bill is intended to enable police and regulators to catch criminals with more up-to-date techniques.
It will see homes or businesses searched without a warrant.
Police carrying out greater surveillance using any available technique, including searching computers without a warrant - and that means everything on the computer, not just what's of initial interest, and it could be done remotely - effectively hacking. Also, people will be forced to answer questions, losing the right to silence."
Justice Minister Simon Power says he is keen to hear the public's concerns.
"It does give extra powers and I'm very interested in... what the submission process throws up," he says.
But it's not just police - regulators get powers to use surveillance devices on businesses.
"The things which they could be doing with that are very broad," says lawyer Richard May. "They could be installing that even in the homes of employees of an organisation which is under investigation."
Two years after the raids, none of those arrested have been convicted. Concerns created by police use of surveillance tactics and investigation techniques are now only heightened by fears this bill will simply extend and enshrine those tactics in law.
