 |
| The Netherlands Rejects "Big Brother" wanting to watch them |
The bill gave new powers to the Netherlands' intelligence services.
They would be able to install wire taps on whole areas, rather than just individuals, store information for up to three years and share this data with other spy agencies.
An independent panel would have to approve these wire taps before they could go ahead.
Both the lower and upper chambers of the Netherlands parliament passed the law last year,
Voters, however, in the Netherlands appear to
have narrowly rejected the new online data collection powers for
intelligence agencies in the referendum which was held in on March 21.
With about 90% of votes counted, 48.8% have rejected the powers, with 47.3% in favour.
An exit poll by the national broadcaster had earlier suggested a victory for "yes".
Supporters of the law say the powers could help fight terrorism, while opponents say the law could be invasion of privacy.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte has promised to take the Referendum vote seriously --And he better do so, even though the result is non-binding, this no-vote will require a re-debate in parliament.
This is a controversial issue, which would have allowed "Big Brother" to put their nose even deeper into Dutch citizens personal privacy, under the nebulous pretext of national security. As if there are not enough government agencies already infringing on citizens privacy say the no-voters.
EU-Digest
