NEOS Resistance Against Messenger Surveillance

"If the government program applies, there will be no such resolution," said NEOS representative Nikolaus Scherak to the "Tiroler Tageszeitung" and the "Oberösterreichische Nachrichten" regarding the possibility of monitoring encrypted internet communication. The government program of ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS stipulates that messenger surveillance must be "constitutional."

Sharp Criticism of Messenger Surveillance from Amnesty and Privacy Advocates

In general, the renewed attempt at surveillance has met with sharp criticism during the review. Amnesty International and the privacy advocates from epicenter.works emphasized this once again on Tuesday. Both organizations did not refer to messenger surveillance, but to the "federal trojan" or "spyware." A constitutional and human rights-compliant use of this is excluded, said Charlotte Deiss from Amnesty. Thomas Lohninger from epicenter.works reminded that four attempts for such a regulation have already failed. The current fifth endeavor also cannot be implemented, as it is hostile to fundamental rights and dangerous.

René Mayrhofer from the University of Linz saw the surveillance desired by the government as only possible if security vulnerabilities were exploited, which would be quasi-state-sponsored. This would invest in IT insecurity of all devices instead of continuously improving them. Amnesty International warns that restricting access via software is not possible. A proportional solution without serious intrusion into private life is therefore excluded. On the other hand, according to Lohninger, there are indeed ways for the state to obtain investigation results in a constitutional manner: such as observing group channels via social engineering, accessing metadata or cloud backups, or the forensic securing of devices.

Messenger Surveillance: Editorial Confidentiality in Focus

The Association of Austrian Newspapers (VÖZ) criticized in its review statement that there could often be violations of journalistic source protection or editorial confidentiality. The organization "Reporters Without Borders" completely rejects the proposal "clearly." Especially in times of political upheaval and uncertain future forecasts, the introduction of such intensive state surveillance would immensely increase the risk of repression, persecution, and suppression of critically thinking and acting individuals and organizations, according to the "Association Against Animal Factories." The city of Vienna demands that legal provisions be made to ensure that security vulnerabilities exploited for surveillance do not remain indefinitely. Criticism was also voiced by the Greens, who pointed to widespread negative statements even from the Bishops' Conference. For almost ten years, attempts have been made to establish the federal Trojan. The current draft is also far from feasible, offers no real legal protection, and is fraught with great potential for abuse, it was emphasized to journalists.

Review for Law on Messenger Surveillance Expires

The draft law, whose review expires on Tuesday, provides security authorities with the possibility of accessing messenger data. This is to be limited to cases indicating terrorist and constitution-threatening activities. It would also be possible in cases of espionage. According to the draft, the authority for messenger surveillance, which affects services like WhatsApp and others, can only be ordered for a duration of three months, with an extension being possible. Subsequently, those affected must be informed that their messengers were monitored.

Messenger Surveillance: Ministry of the Interior Insists on Right to Security

The Ministry of the Interior stated to the APA that there have also been positive statements from renowned legal experts regarding the proposal. It is up to epicenter.works to focus on the individual rights of people. However, security and law enforcement agencies must primarily ensure the collective rights in a democratic constitutional society - namely the right to security - consistently, and for that, they need the necessary and contemporary tools. The ministry's own staff clearly supports messenger surveillance in the review process. The Austrian Criminal Investigation Association recognizes a security-police necessary step corresponding to technical developments to provide security authorities with adequate and effective tools to combat serious crime and terrorism. Support also comes from parts of the judiciary. Criminal law professor Susanne Reindl-Krauskopf states in her supportive statement that the planned measures are neither about mass surveillance pro futuro nor a comprehensive measure comparable to data retention. The Chamber of Commerce expresses itself fundamentally neutral. "Preferable" for the employers' representation would be domestic software solutions for carrying out the surveillance measures.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.