In a court case in which the government (mr Plasterk) was taken to task for using NSA data – private information gotten through illegal means according to Dutch law – the NL courts have ruled that secret services can use this data freely, because “it’s important”. This is a bit like allowing evidence gained under torture. It may be illegal in NL, but hey – another person gave it to us and it’s really important, so let’s use it!
Another real problem is that this ruling allows the NL secret service to circumvent the checks and balances applying to the Dutch democracy by sending data to the US, or allowing the US to capture it, have it be analysed there and then returned to NL. In this way the AIVD can perform illegal data mining “legally”.
Rechter: Nederland mag NSA-data blijven gebruiken – IT Pro – Nieuws – Tweakers.
Robin Edgar
Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft