Proposal urged for new directive to safeguard employees from ionising radiation risks, as directed by the Commission.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) is backing the idea of monitoring messaging apps in criminal investigations. Addressing the "Both Sides Live" show on Puls24 on Thursday, he suggested that the responsibility rests with the Ministry of Justice but found it "sensible" to carry out such surveillance. However, Austria's coalition partners SPÖ and NEOS swiftly shut down any such notions.
The most recent opposition came from Elena Haslinger, the chairwoman of the association of public prosecutors, who endorsed granting public prosecutors the same powers as state security. On Thursday, the Federal Criminal Police Office's head, Andreas Holzer, echoed the sentiment, demanding a similar authority for criminal police. Karner agreed, emphasizing the importance of inspecting other potential threats as well. Nevertheless, any regulation of the matter would have to be handled judiciously through a Criminal Procedure Code amendment.
The idea of implementing messenger surveillance may prove challenging due to opposition among the coalition partners. NEOS party's club chairman Yannick Shetty unequivocally stated that they would never support the expansion of surveillance of potential threats for the entire government period. SPÖ security spokesman Maximilian Köllner reiterated that the coalition pact had previously agreed on surveillance restricted to potential threats while remaining constitutionally compliant.
While the Greens see their opposition to messenger surveillance, both with regard to state security and non-terroristic offenses, confirmed, Austria's debate on digitizing surveillance in the interest of security is heated. The current draft law, which proposes monitoring secure messaging apps with judicial oversight[1][2][3], continues to face criticism for potential privacy violations and infringements on fundamental rights[1][4]. The routes forward for this contentious legislation are as yet unclear.
Footnotes:[1] European Digital Rights (EDRi) – Privacy and Data Protection in the European Union: https://edri.org/[2] Freedom House – Freedom on the Net: https://freedomhouse.org/[3] Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – Surveillance Self-Defense: https://ssd.eff.org/[4] Verfassungsblog – Austrian Constitutional Court: Internet Surveillance Unconstitutional (2018): https://verfassungsblog.de/
What about the stance of Austria's NEOS party on the issue of monitoring messaging apps? Yannick Shetty, the party's club chairman, has unequivocally stated that they would never support such surveillance for the entire government period.
Given the heated debate on digitizing surveillance in Austria, it is clear that any potential regulation of messenger surveillance, whether for state security or non-terroristic offenses, will be met with criticism over potential privacy violations and infringements on fundamental rights.
