Poland Enacts New Surveillance Law

Last week, Poland signed some new anti-terror rules into law in an effort to increase security in the country. As with many similar laws, Poland cited terrorism as a reason for the legislation — but it poses some major risks to privacy and civil liberties. The law allows the government to monitor foreign citizens for a period of up to three months without court approval – opening the door for increased surveillance on these citizens. Police can collect metadata without a court order (this would include information on websites visited online; location of cell phones). The law includes provisions for Internet content blocking, as well.

Additional provisions of the bill pose threats beyond online surveillance and include threats to civil liberties such as eased regulations on foreigners being deported, the holding of suspects and regulation of sale of SIM pay-as-you-go cards.

Amnesty International stated that the new rules grant “seemingly unlimited powers” to Polish intelligence services. A European human rights group also criticized the surveillance law. At Golden Frog we believe everyone has the right to privacy, and are opposed to government surveillance and intrusive legislation.

Source: Reuters, RT, Panoptykon