Amnesty International, Bits of Freedom, Open State Foundation, Vrijschrift and Waag write this in a joint statement. The privacy organizations do not agree with the state of affairs surrounding the new controversial bill from the Ministry of Justice and Security.
Contrary to the law
The bill comes after reports from NRC revealed that the national terrorism coordinator NCTV was tracking people online in violation of the law. Outgoing justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus called this behavior earlier this year “legally vulnerable”. The bill should make it possible for NCTV to keep an eye on people.
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“We are talking about a fierce and controversial proposal that concerns the processing of sensitive personal data of everyone in the Netherlands,” says Evelyn Austin of Bits of Freedom.
“The government thinks this is a matter of futility, but it is not,” said Merel Koning of Amnesty International. “With this law, we are installing a new secret service that specifically monitors civil society.”
A few days response time
Not only are the organizations angry about the content of the law, the way in which the cabinet has presented the bill is also lacking. The law has been ‘in consultation’ since last week, but the organizations have only a few days to respond to the proposal. Normally there is a minimum response time of four weeks.
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Act ‘in consultation’
Before a bill is submitted to the House of Representatives, the cabinet often asks citizens, companies and institutions for improvements. This ‘in consultation’ can also be done online, via internetconsultatie.nl. Everyone has at least 4 weeks to respond to the bills and people can make suggestions to improve the quality or feasibility of bills.
Not all bills are ‘in consultation’. “Sometimes, for example, there is a rush with regulations,” the cabinet writes. “There is then no time to ask for responses from those involved and interested parties.”
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Austin says she can only provide “a constructive response after a thorough review” of the proposal. “Five working days are not only not enough for that, it is an insult to the counter-power.”
‘Power and counter-power’
Serv Wiemers, director of the Open State Foundation, also thinks that the way in which the bill is being introduced to the world is in stark contrast to the discussions in The Hague in recent months: “The cabinet is talking about a new administrative culture. balance between power and counter-power. And transparency. The way in which this bill is being pushed does not resemble that at all.”
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