Attack foiled – politicians discuss courier services

“The police need the right powers and knowledge for this,” Karner said Monday. But it’s “not about mass surveillance.” The head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, had already called for greater access to courier content at the end of February.

The interior ministry has now said police face a “huge hurdle” in the fight against political and religious extremists. Because while the communication of terrorist suspects can be tapped via telephones, tapping the same communication via courier services on smartphones is not legally possible. Serious criminals would know this and take advantage of it every day. This creates “a huge source of danger to the public and national security, for example if an attack is planned solely through these messengers, which the police are not allowed to read.”

The Greens now admitted that one of the central tasks in a democracy is “to ensure the security of the population”. current example shows “With regard to the extension of surveillance measures such as the introduction of a federal trojan, the Groen position is clear, also with regard to the protection of fundamental rights: the dangers of such a measure do not outweigh the benefits”, said the Green Parliamentary Club.

Rejection for Federal Trojans
The Constitutional Court (VfGH) has already rejected the Federal Trojan. “We are surprised by the demands of the ÖVP-led interior ministry, as the party has always resisted the evaluation of chats and mobile phones lately,” it said.

As reported, the recently arrested youths are said to be part of the radical Islamic scene and have been active on the internet. For example, they are accused of having had online contact with people close to the Viennese attacker.