by LAUREN COMITEAU
The Netherlands’ Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten asked the Dutch parliament earlier this month to pass a law that would allow the authorities to hack into computers both at home and abroad in an effort to fight crime.
But those opposed to the new proposal are saying it’s the Dutch authorities themselves who will be waging cyber war on the rest of the world.
“We are worried because these are very heavy measures,” says Tim Toornvliet, spokesperson for the NGO Bits of Freedom, a Dutch digital rights group. “In order for police to be able to hack into computers, they need to have back doors into them, and this makes the internet less safe.”
In asking the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament for a “possible expansion of powers”, Opstelten said that police and prosecutors are out of date with the fast-moving digital world, where it is “relatively simple for criminals to cover [their] digital tracks.”
Radio Netherlands Worldwide for more