Ask a random passenger on the street how they feel about secret services tracking the online communication on their devices. The one half will respond with: “Go right ahead, I have nothing to hide”, while the other half will argue their privacy is jeopardised.
In 2017, the Dutch government accepted a new law concerning the rights of secret services, that allows them to track online communication and basically “hack” all devices of a citizen. The new law was introduced because the old version was from 2001. There was no Facebook, no WhatsApp, the main communication channel was… regular telephone. It comes as no surprise, that the law was updated.
The part of this new law, the “Sleepwet”, that makes Dutch people go crazy, is the part that states that not only suspects can be tracked, but also the people in their environment and well, basically anyone the secret services want to track down.
Supporters of the new law often state that they have “nothing to hide”. Furthermore, they refer to the fact that the old law was outdated.
Opponents of the new law state that the most suspects and perpetrators of terrorist attacks, appear to be in the sight of secret services before the terrorist attack and therefore there is no big advantage in tracking down people on greater scale. Also, data about all Dutch people will be stored for a certain period of time: who decides how the data is treated, and when it is deleted? The minister is responsible to supervise this, based on the new law, which states that people can be tracked down for the purpose of “research-related” research. According to a report of the CTIVD (a committee for supervision on the secret services), a lot of aspects of the new law are rather vague and “inaccurate”. Furthermore, the privacy of innocent people would be in danger.
I feel that we should realize our personal information is really valuable, and should not be exposed at any time the secret services want. What is your opinion about the new law? Do you have something to hide?
Sources:
Nice blog Veerle! To be fair, I always find it very difficult to reflect on privacy concerns which occur due to government policies, as for some reason I do believe at least part of the intention is to ‘make the world a safer place’. However, in our modern day, which is characterized by the phenomenon of big data, I think the problem actually becomes of an even larger magnitude and here’s why:
Big data in its very essence implies that multiple elements are combined to discover correlations or patterns that cannot intuitively come to the human mind (Andrejevic & Gates, 2014). This is profoundly demonstrated in the Wallmart case, wherein Walmart discovered a woman’s pregnancy even before she knew it herself – all thanks to big data algorithms. Therefore, to me, the problem of big data is that people simply do not know what they ‘give away’. Someone might think they’re simply providing governments with for example their Facebook likes and number of active Whatsapp conversations, but what if government algorithms figure out that people who like cat videos on Facebook and are not very active on Whatsapp are more inclined to have mental health issues? Could this information end up at your insurance company?
So, in conclusion: I might have to agree with you on this one (even though I still don’t see governments as mean monsters trying to go through my Whatsapps for their personal enjoyment), since even if I knew what data they would possess of me, I will never fully understand what they could potentially ‘know’ about me.
Reference:
Andrejevic, M. & Gates, K. 2014. Big Data Surveillance Introduction. Surveillance and Society, Vol. 12, Issue No. 2, pp 185-196. [Online] http://queens.scholarsportal.info/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/viewFile/bds_ed/bds_editorial [Accessed 17-10-2017]
Hi Veerle! Thanks for an interesting post! Having read it, I got worried whether Dutch government can also obtain my data, even though I am an international student in the Netherlands. Considering that I use Dutch mobile network, I feel my communication could easily be tracked as well. In case this is true, I consider it as a breach of privacy, since I am not a Dutch citizen Nevertheless, I do believe that Dutch government is acting this way in order to protect the lives of its citizens, even though the law might seem as breaching our privacy. Considering all the terrible events that are happening in Europe, however, I believe we need to give up some privacy concerns in order to let government indeed protect us. Therefore, I would not oppose to this law, as unlike online companies that collect our data for commercial use, government seems to have other reasons. If I had a choice to share my data with another online retailer or Dutch government, for example, I would choose the latter, even though the comparison might seem weird. I believe people should adapt to the feeling that “privacy” will be more difficult to preserve year after year, and eventually it will disappear in general.
Hey Veerle,
Very interesting read – thank you for sharing! Governments collecting data from its citizens seems to be unfortunately quite common and very little is known about the implications of them collecting this kind of data. A John Oliver segment on late night TV in the US interviewed various Americans about whether they would allow the government to collect their data. Many respondents replied yes. However, when the question was phrased in another, more creative way, many respondents were understandably more concerned.
It’s a very interesting line – the line between the government protecting your safety and the government having your personal data and personal correspondences on record. I’m curious to see how this law plays out. And with the rise of cyber-attacks, whether the government can adequately protect their citizens data. I’m also curious what your take on online companies’ responsibility with this kind data collection. When Edward Snowden released files relating to the United States’s NSA surveillance, it showed evidence of deals between the government and large companies like Google. What sort of role should these companies play in relation to governments wanting to “surveil” our data?
https://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/googles_secret_nsa_alliance_the_terrifying_deals_between_silicon_valley_and_the_security_state/
Shows how your personal messages are being observed and collected by different US and French government agencies:
https://cantheyseemydick.com/