“Netizen Report: Swiss Citizens Say Yes to Surveillance.” – Global Voices on 30 September 2016.
On 25 September 2016 43% of eligible Swiss voters voted in support of a new law that would give the Swiss Intelligence Agency [SIA] expanded surveillance capacities. This means that they, along with the Swiss government, would be able to spy on telecommunications, install citizen’s digital devices with surveillance malware, and place cameras and recording devices in private locations. Of the 43% of eligible Swiss voters, 65.5% of them voted in favour of this new law. The SIA has to have approval from the federal court, the cabinet, and the defence ministry before they can begin to monitor a citizen. The steps to gaining approval to survey a citizen is intended to cut down the chances of the law being abused. The citizen who is being monitored would be notified within a month before being surveyed, and they are informed of the length of their surveillance. The only time a citizen would not be informed, is if: it is a danger to other citizens around them, if it could potentially affect public proceedings, or if it against the publics interest. There are many concerns that are raised by Jean Christophe Schwaab, a Social Democratic parliamentarian. He states that the government would circumvent defence and judical approval process. This would indeed counteract with the process, mentioned above, with the SIA having to go through many different channels to be granted approval to cut down on the law being abused. There is also worry that if the law is abused, it could lead to a “slippery slope”, where a request for surveillance would not be denied, because of the climate of paranoia within the media. Some Swiss based technology companies, who are also not in favour of the law, are not worried about the law going into effect. For example, owner and founder of ProtonMail, Andy Yen, expressed his concern about the law, but stated that his email service company does not store or collect users email encryption keys or personal information. These encryption keys are needed in order for one to decrypt and read the content of an email.
This article provides information about the law, how the government would implement it, and some of the expressed concerns from two sources. What this article fails to provide the reader with, is why exactly 65.5% of 43% of Swiss voters voted in favour of this law [and vice versa]. You are given a good picture of the “what ifs” that may occur if the law goes into full effect, but the law does invade upon one’s private life. There is a sense of peace that comes from knowing that the Swiss based company Protonmail, has taken steps to avoid this from happening, but I am left without the assurance of knowing a more general populous opinion [for or against the law]. I believe researching further information about the law, would provide any reader with a better understanding of the Swiss attitude towards surveillance and privacy.
Works Cited: