Security.co.uk, 24 July 2014: 'Appeal against ruling on NSA data exchange'

"A coalition of organisations is appealing against the court ruling in The Hague that Dutch intelligence agencies are allowed to exchange telecoms data with the US National Security Agency (NSA), even though the data was collected in a way that is not allowed in the Netherlands.

Yesterday, the Hague court ruled in a civil case brought against Interior Minister Plasterk by a number of citizens, the Dutch Association for Criminal Lawyers (NVS), the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ), the Internet Society Netherlands association and the Privacy First foundation.

According to Privacy First, the court in The Hague "missed the mark". Although the court found all claimants, both citizens and organisations, admissible, this is overshadowed by the way the court handled the substance of the case, the organisation said.

Striking

The privacy organisation calls it striking that the court considers less stringent legal safeguards necessary when it comes to bulk raw data exchange. "However, stricter legal safeguards are precisely required for such exchange, as this data mainly concerns innocent people," it said. In addition, the court wrongly distinguishes between metadata (traffic data) and the content of communications, while both types of data often overlap and require the same high level of legal protection."

The court also allegedly missed the mark in finding that the statutory foreseeability requirement of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would apply to a lesser extent in the international exchange of data between secret services.

The article providing the legal basis for such exchange in the Netherlands would not meet the modern requirements of Article 8 ECHR, according to Privacy First. Privacy First expects higher courts to recognise this situation in violation of Article 8 of the ECHR. The organisation therefore views the appeal to the Court of Appeal in The Hague with confidence."

Source: https://www.security.nl/posting/396399/Hoger+beroep+tegen+uitspraak+over+uitwisseling+NSA-data.