Austria's Top Court Says Police May Not Install Surveillance Malware On Computers And Phones

guest · Dec 19, 2019

Austria's Top Court Says Police May Not Install Surveillance Malware On Computers And Phones, Nor Collect Vehicle And Driver Information Covertly
December 19, 2019
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...ect-vehicle-driver-information-covertly.shtml

Austrian police were due to start deploying malware in this way next year. But in a welcome win for digital rights, Austria's top court has just ruled its use unconstitutional (in German). The Austrian Constitutional Court based its judgment on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR -- pdf). The Web site of the Austrian national public service broadcaster ORF reported the court as ruling:

"The covert surveillance of the use of computer systems" constitutes a "serious interference" in the private sphere, as protected by the ECHR, and "is in the opinion of the Constitutional Court permitted only within tightly-defined limits in order to protect correspondingly important assets". [...]"

Austrian police were to have been given the right to install malware as part of a broader "security package" -- called a "surveillance package" by its critics -- passed by the Austrian parliament last year (in German). Other new powers included the right to break into private homes in order to install malware, and permission to gather covertly information about vehicles and their drivers from automated surveillance systems on roads.
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Austria's Top Court Says Police May Not Install Surveillance Malware On Computers And Phones

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