The Austrian authorities introduced a draft regulation to observe WhatsApp and Telegram messaging apps after a authorities retreat.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner from the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) informed media representatives after a closed assembly in Vienna late Tuesday that “the police currently have no way of seeing what terrorists and extremists are doing on messaging programs.”
“We need a level playing field,” he mentioned and defined that it was “important for him to point out that the population is not affected by this. We are talking about a few individual cases a year.”
Karner mentioned the potential for accessing messenger providers or studying messages is “limited to cases that indicate terrorist and constitution-threatening activities.”
He cited particular examples of “the preparation of terrorist attacks and the formation of terrorist groups. It can also be used for espionage.”
State Secretary Jorg Leichtfried from the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO), the coalition associate of the OVP, doesn’t see any hazard of mass surveillance within the initiative.
He mentioned the measure is “a last resort” and added that “there are no longer any constitutional concerns.”
Leichtfried added that “the population should have the feeling that the country is becoming safer.”
There are issues, nonetheless, from the OVP’s third coalition associate, the liberal NEOS.
Party chief Beate Meinl-Reisinger informed public broadcaster ORF that there are “already improvements in the new draft, such as the early possible involvement of the parliamentary subcommittee.”
“We have not reached the end of the discussion, but are at the beginning of it,” mentioned Meinl-Reisinger.
Karner mentioned a protracted overview interval of eight weeks has been set for the draft regulation, throughout which the OVP and SPO will attempt to persuade the NEOS.
Source: www.anews.com.tr