FPÖ politician warns: New surveillance endangers civil rights in Austria!

FPÖ politician warns: New surveillance endangers civil rights in Austria!

In Austrian politics, a new draft law for monitoring Messenger services is currently heating the minds. ÖVP Interior Minister Gerhard Karner plans to present such a proposal in the upcoming government exam, which in particular should allow security authorities to access encrypted messages, for example at WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram. Critics fear that these measures are not primarily about the fight against terrorism, but rather a comprehensive mass surveillance of the population, as FPÖ security spokesman Gernot Darmann notes. Darmann warns against instrumentalization of the latest Islamist attacks to legitimize such surveillance measures. He refers to a terrorist attack in Villach in February, in which a young person was murdered and several people injured, and questions that monitoring of messenger services is necessary if radicalization can also be observed on platforms such as TikKOT.

The proposal of Karner could be considered contemporary tools to combat terrorism and espionage. The Interior Minister argues that terrorists often communicate in secret chat rooms and that it is therefore essential to monitor this communication. In Germany, a comparable regulation has been in force since 2008, where the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has the opportunity to monitor Messenger services and use a so-called "national Trojan". Since the introduction of source telecommunications monitoring (TKÜ) in 2017, the police have been able to hack the devices of suspects under certain conditions, which, however, presupposes a judicial decision.

concerns about data protection and fundamental rights

The discussion about monitoring Messenger services is not only sharply conducted by Darmann, but also by other political actors. The Greens, the NEOS and the SPÖ criticize the draft law and question their constitutional conformity. Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler calls for a compliance with fundamental rights, while the SPÖ security spokesman Reinhold Einwallner notes that no constitutional draft has yet been presented. Einwallner also demands information on the investigation of the thwarted attack on a concert in Vienna last year, in which international secret services provided decisive information.

Meredith Whittaker, the head of Signal, also comments on the concern for data protection. She warns of security gaps that could go hand in hand with such surveillance and emphasizes that data protection is indivisible and must apply to everyone. Critics point out that existing laws could possibly be misused, for example by former executive officers who perform illegal surveillance as "private detectives". Karner's proposal is therefore met with massive resistance from various political camps.

Experiences from Germany and Austria's fighting terrorism

The experiences of neighboring countries are important for the Austrian debate. In Germany, the Source TKÜ has already been used in a number of cases, but the success of these measures in the fight against terrorism is not clearly determined. Between 2011 and 2022, a total of 13 attacks in Germany were thwarted. However, some attacks also failed due to technical problems. Most recently, an Islamist attack in Munich showed that monitoring of trade fair services is not a panacea.

The renewed debate about surveillance measures in Austria raises questions about the boundaries between security and the basic and freedom rights of the citizens. The FPÖ emphasizes that increased surveillance is not the solution to combat extremist threats and sees Karner's proposal an attack on the privacy of citizens. Darmann also criticizes that the ÖVP wants to distract from its failures in migration policy and warns of a further restriction of the rights of citizens, similar to the Corona pandemic.

In the coming days it will be shown how the government will react to the persistent concerns and whether Karner's draft law can find a majority or whether it will encounter massive resistance - both within the coalition and in the general public.

Further information can be found in the reports of OTS , Puls24 href = "https://www.fob.at/messenger-spyware-fur-staesliche-uberkachung-political-persecution-und-kriminellen-mahnnen/">