Security: Wire-tapping in Europe on the rise - Netherlands leads the pack

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Wiretapping in Europe on the rise - Netherlands leads the pack

In a 2003 report, the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Germany put Italy at the top of the European wire-tapping list followed by the Netherlands and Britain as the three worst offenders. Countries you would not suspect of playing fast and loose with civil liberties. Presently the top wire-tapping spot has been taken over by the Netherlands which now has the highest rate of wire-tapping of any European country—a surprising fact, given the country's reputation for cozy coffee bars, not invasive police tactics. Dutch police can tap any phone they like, so long as the crime under investigation carries at least a three-year jail term.

The Dutch secret service, known by its acronym AIVD, has gained vast powers since 9/11. In September 2004, the government passed sweeping measures that lowered the threshold for bugging and surveillance. A turning point in Dutch public attitudes came with the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist who claimed a film he made insulted Islam.

Note EU-Digest: "In Europe, Big Brother is listening - and authorities across the continent are being allowed and getting more powers to electronically eavesdrop. Worse is that they are meeting less apparent opposition than President Bush did over his post-9/11 wiretapping program. As part of a package of European Union anti-terrorism measures, the European Parliament in December approved legislation requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone date and Internet logs for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for criminal investigations. In Italy, which experts agree is the most wiretapped Western democracy, a report to parliament in January by Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said the number of authorized wiretaps more than tripled from 32,000 in 2001 to 106,000 last year. The fact is that in much of Europe wiretapping is de rigueur—practiced more regularly and with less oversight than in the United States. Most Europeans either don't know about this or, more likely, simply don't care. European governments have been bugging phones for decades. In theory, the European Convention on Human Rights forbids "arbitrary wiretapping," but, as we've learned in the United States, arbitrary is in the ear of the wiretapper. Maybe it is time for European politicians to start taking notice also. They might be listened to next? "