Dutch OK With Wiretapping

Nearly three quarters of the Dutch think that the government should be able to tap communication by telephone and over the internet, if this prevents terrorism. Figures from investigation bureau peil.nl, from Maurice de Hond, show that 73 percent of respondents has no problem with wiretapping. The study was commissioned by the news site NUtech.nl. About 70 percent of those surveyed think that the Dutch government actually taps telephone and internet communication. Nearly half of respondents say they don’t worry about large-scale wiretapping practices. Peil.nl interviewed for the study a representative sample of 2000 Dutch citizens. Last week it was announced that the U.S. government monitors internet communication on a large scale. The NSA is doing this with their spying program with the name PRISM. Former NSA employee Edward Snowden, revealed the practices of wiretapping by the NSA to the public. Since the whistleblower made clear that the U.S. government is spying through wiretapping abroad, the case has caused considerable controversy worldwide. Snowden, wanted by the U.S. for espionage or ‘felony charges’, has been sending many secret documents from his hotel room in Hong Kong to the English newspaper, The Guardian. Despite the request for extradition of Snowden, the Hong Kong government didn’t follow up due to procedural mistakes. Snowden has left Hong Kong on Sunday and flew to Moscow. Monday he will continue his trip to Cuba and, after Cuba, he hopes that he will get political asylum in Ecuador. Ecuador also gave political asylum to Julian Assange, the owner of wikileaks, who also faces charges in the U.S. for leaking secret U.S. government documents. On Friday Minister Ronald Plasterk of the Interior Affairs, stressed that the Dutch intelligence agencies AIVD and MIVD, do not apply the controversial wiretapping program nor any similar program.