Switzerland allows total spying on citizens

The Swiss residents voted for extension of the Federal Intelligence Service's powers at a referendum.

Photo: Source: Pravda.Ru photo archive

The Swiss adopted a law, which enables special services to eavesdrop on phone conversations and track cyber space in order to prevent terror acts.

According to the referendum results, 65.5% of the Swiss residents supported the law.

Nonetheless, the special services will have to get a corresponding permission of the court, the Defence Ministry and the Cabinet of Ministers to spy on the citizens.

'It allows Switzerland to use modern tools to react to existing threats,' the Defence Minister Guy Parmelin claimed.

He pointed out that the new legislation will come into force in September 2017. The Defence Ministry will have to estimate new technological equipment and employ additional staff by 2019.

As Pravda.Ru reported, the European Commission stated that in autumn it would significantly toughen requirements for overseas communication services, WhatsApp and Skype in particularly. The Messengers and communication programs will have to meet safety and confidentiality standards which are established in the territory of Europe.

They will affect cooperation of the programs with the EU security services and regulate ways of profiting from users' data. Facebook, Microsoft and Google will face it first of all.

Pravda.Ru

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