The new cabinet wants to give the police the powers to monitor people online, even if they are not suspected of planning to commit a crime.
Ministers on Friday voted in favour of draft legislation which would allow them to keep a closer online eye on demonstrators and potential rioters, but which could have a knock-on effect on general population.
The legislation, says justice minister David van Weel, would bring the police “into the 21st century” but experts warn it will have much wider implications.
“This is a far reaching proposal,” lecturer Willem Bantema, who accepts the need for an update, told Trouw. “Are they going to be digging around in everyone from Extinction Rebellion to find out what they are up to?”
The Dutch privacy watchdog AP has already criticised the plans and said it is unclear where the boundaries lie. Although the legislation says the police will only be able access public sources, the AP fears the system may become automated and that the police will go further than the law allows.
“Demonstrators are not rioters by definition,” Bantema said. “And if you carry out checks from a preventative perspective, you run the risk of discrimination or predominantly focusing on groups with other ideas.”
The Dutch human rights council told parliament last year it has strong reservations about the law because of the risks to the “right to privacy, freedom of speech, freedom to demonstrate and freedom from discrimination.”
The ministry says the police will only collect online information if there are indications that there could be trouble, such as during the far-right riots in The Hague last year.
Police would also only be able to exercise their new powers under the supervision of local mayors.
The draft legislation has now been sent to the Council of State for its assessment.
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