Rødt’s leader Bjørnar Moxnes says the party will now put three written questions to the defense minister, which he must answer within a week. Rødt’s leader Bjørnar Moxnes demands an answer from the Minister of Defence. Photo: Cicilie S. Andersen / Cicilie S. Andersen – We want to get to the bottom of it. Firstly, has the European Convention on Human Rights changed since this section of the Intelligence Act was put on hold in autumn 2021?, asks Moxnes. He says the government has not made a new legal assessment before they now allow this. news has previously reported that the government at the beginning of this month opened the door for the Norwegian Intelligence Service to test a system that can capture large amounts of information about Norwegian citizens. This is happening at the same time that, among other things, the question of whether the system violates Norway’s human rights obligations is still out for consultation. The hearing deadline is 27 September. This prompted one of the critics, the association Tekna, to ask whether the consultation is a sham process. – Not justifiable – This shows a rush that does not keep up with the democratic treatment and also the assessment against the human rights aspects of this type of mass surveillance of all Norwegians’ communications, says Rødt leader Moxnes. – We believe that it is not justifiable and that they must wait until the Storting has made a decision and until the legal situation has also been clarified. Rødt also wants an answer to whether the E-service has started monitoring Norwegians’ communications and whether there is any limitation on how many Norwegians can be monitored and how long the E-service’s test project can last. In the instructions adopted by the government on 2 September, it is stated that the head of the National Intelligence Service can order the telecommunications and network companies to mirror and make available real communication flows, with the aim of carrying out test collection and test analyzes of network traffic and services. The e-service can therefore order the companies to give them a copy of all data communication that crosses the border to Norway. The Minister of Defence: – Is it legal Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp) tells news that Norway is not sufficiently equipped to defend itself against threats such as espionage, sabotage, terrorist planning and cyber operations. He believes that Norway is in a serious threat situation, and that it is therefore important to get such a system in place. – We are a digital society. There is a lot of good about it, but there are actors who use the digital space, who do not like us. We cannot have an analogue defense in a digital world. Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp). Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Gram says that the European Court of Human Rights has assessed that this type of activity is legal and that it cannot be replaced by other means, if one is to have an effective border defense against digital threats. – How accurate is it to collect so much information in order to use a tiny part of it? – A lot of information is collected, but it is not the case that the intelligence services have free access to this information and can use it as they wish. On the contrary. A very strict framework has been put in place, says Gram. The companies were skeptical news has asked Telenor and Telia if they have started sharing communication data with the E-service. – No, we have not started with that. We are still in dialogue with the Ministry of Defense about the practical implementation of the obligation to facilitate, replies communications manager Ellen Cecilie Scheen at Telia in an e-mail to news. Both companies refer to their consultation responses when the entire new act for the Norwegian Intelligence Service was out for consultation in 2019. Telia then wrote that the proposal would constitute a strong intrusion into citizens’ right to privacy: “The measure will mean that information about Norwegian citizens’ communications, also in many cases between themselves, are stored to meet the needs of the intelligence services, and in this way involve a change in principle. Our secret services will be able to access information about Norwegian citizens, completely detached from a concrete suspicion.” Telia believed that there was insufficient documentation that the measure was absolutely necessary to be introduced to protect citizens’ safety. Telenor wrote in its consultation response that Norwegian citizens and businesses’ everyday communication with each other, via e-mail, social media, messaging and communication services, will often cross Norway’s border and will therefore be intercepted. “The bill requires players within electronic communications to arrange for all cross-border communications to be copied to the E-service. Telenor considers that the consultation note lacks visibility and assessment of, among other things, the consequences and the proportionality of the fact that the main part of this volume is in reality the communication between Norwegian citizens and businesses. Costs over a billion One of the main reasons for introducing so-called “facilitated acquisition” is that Norway is not currently equipped to detect and ward off the most advanced threats in the digital space, the government wrote in the instructions on 2 September. It also states that delays in project development will increase the project risk and be significantly more expensive for the project. To date, the cost frame is over one billion kroner. – The government must deal with human rights. Mass surveillance of the citizens of a state is always justified by the good intentions. But there is a reason why one should be careful with that, says Rødt leader Moxnes. – This is very controversial because it is about privacy and the right to privacy. MDG is also critical Arild Hermstad is acting party leader in MDG. Photo: news The Green Party is skeptical both of the proposal and of the opening of testing before the consultation deadline has expired. – It opens the door for mass surveillance of Norwegian citizens, it is disproportionate and violates people’s right to privacy, says MDG’s acting party leader, Arild Hermstad. Why is it a problem that you don’t wait until you have received the consultation responses? – It is our democracy and it is important that we listen to the input that comes in. There are many examples of consultation processes that have led to proposals being scrapped. The government must do this in the right order and have respect for democracy. MDG believes that the message from the government is disturbing when they want to test this out in advance and make everything ready before the consultation deadline has expired. – We agree that there is a dangerous security situation in Europe, but it is not certain that this will help anything in particular to reduce the risk we are in, and then you should not start testing this before the consultation deadline has expired, says Hermstad.
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Red demands answers about controversial surveillance system – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
