Dutch Secret Service accused of e-mail snooping

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by Rick Perera

BERLIN (IDG) -- Reports that intelligence agents have been intercepting e-mail traffic have added urgency to the debate about electronic snooping in the Netherlands, where a pending bill would broaden the government's power to monitor communications.

The newspaper De Volkskrant said Monday that the Internal Security Service (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst or BVD) had monitored e-mail messages between an unnamed Dutch software company and an Iranian customer. According to the report, BVD approached the company, which makes software for industrial processes, and warned it to stop dealing with an Iranian water-purification company because of its involvement in nuclear power projects.

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BVD agents told the Dutch company they had been screening e-mail traffic for keywords like "water purification," "Iran," and "programmable logical controllers," the paper said. It was not clear from the report whether the BVD had sought prior permission to screen e-mail from the company.

BVD spokesman Vincent van Steen declined to comment on the specific case, but said that in general, "Monitoring e-mail is not a thing we do ... when we tap e-mail, it has to do with a specific person and a specific subject, and for that we need the permission of four (government) ministers."

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The standard is the same for e-mail as for telephone conversations, he added.

A bill under discussion in the Dutch Parliament would broaden the BVD's powers to screen wireless electronic communications, including satellite transmissions and mobile phone signals, for specific keywords, van Steen said.

"Then again, when we want to know more about specific correspondence of specific people we need the specific permission for that," he said. Under the new law, the signature of only one minister would be required to tap a particular person's phone calls or e-mail, he added.

Dutch civil-rights activists are wary of the government's assurances.

"Basically this law is probably putting down already existing practices," said Maurice Wessling, director of the Internet privacy group Bits of Freedom, in Amsterdam. Under the new bill, he said, "They can basically put up an antenna and listen to any GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) traffic and see if there's anything interesting; and for the satellite communication, it gives them the possibility to search using keywords; third, the new bill gives them the possibility to explicitly engage in economic espionage -- which I would say they are doing already."

Legislation in place in the Netherlands since 1989 requires ISPs (Internet service providers) to make it technically feasible for security agents to access their networks, Wessling said. The bill before Parliament would extend that requirement to cooperation in decrypting data.

Parallel legislation has been under consideration in several European countries. In the U.K., for instance, the so-called Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) bill is set to take effect on Oct. 5.

"I think there's a consensus that governments will want to extend interception laws over the Internet," said Casper Bowden, executive director of the London-based Foundation for Information Policy Research. "But more and more Internet traffic will just become routinely encrypted end to end -- the question therefore has to be asked: will interception of Internet traffic last very long or do any good if it's blotted out by encryption?"

Like the proposed Dutch law, the RIP bill requires users to hand over encryption keys to the government. But Bowden doubts whether such provisions will stand up to the European Convention on Human Rights. Among other issues, the Convention guarantees suspects the right not to be forced to incriminate themselves.

"From the government perspective, asking for the key is not in itself self-incriminatory, (but) you've still got an awkward issue: what if you're asking for a password which only exists in someone's head?" Bowden said. "I have no doubt that the RIP bill will be challenged on three or four counts, and the cases will end up in Strasbourg (the seat of the European Court of Human Rights)."

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June 13, 2000

U.K. Parliament approves e-mail surveillance
(IDG.net)
E-mail monitoring bill proposed
(Computerworld)
Should you encode your e-mail?
(The Industry Standard)
All eyes on privacy
(InfoWorld.com)
Online privacy 101
(The Industry Standard)
Digital spying? Get over it already
(PCWorld.com)
White House submits wiretap law revisions
(IDG.net)
Reno to review FBI's Internet wiretap system
(The Industry Standard)

Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD)
Foundation for Information Policy Research
Bits of Freedom

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