© Cris Toala Olivares / Reuters
Dutch said no.
Dutch said no.
The Electoral Council said 49.4 percent of the voters spoke out against the Intelligence and Security Law during the March 21 referendum. The legislation was supported by 46.5 percent, with four percent of those participating casting blank ballots, it added. The addition of the law on the ballot boosted voter turnout to almost 52 percent, far exceeding the minimum turnout of 30 percent required for a plebiscite to be declared valid.
The new legislation, which the opponents dubbed the 'Big Data Law,' or data mining law, provides additional powers to the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD).
Among other things, it would allow the country's two security agencies to tap telephone and internet traffic on a large scale, which would include reaching an alleged perpetrator by hacking devices of those not under suspicion.
The data obtained through such surveillance would be stored for up to three years, and the AIVD and the MIVD would be granted the right to share this information with foreign colleagues, even without performing any preliminary analysis themselves. The law would also enable the Dutch security agencies to store DNA material for people.
Comment: The government has already decided this action and it is going into effect no matter what transpires from the public. "To do justice" by the referendum "in the shortest time possible" means 'wink and pass it anyway." Sound familiar?