#01: What about (y)our privacy?

In the Netherlands it is not unusual that all data is seized during a house search by the Financial Intelligence Unit or the ‘tax police’ (FIOD) in a criminal investigation. All data in the sense that an image of the server(s) or the (personal) computer is made and that all data storage devices are seized. Just imagine that the people who search your house seize your SD-cards with family pictures of last Christmas as well as the IPads of your children with their favorite games and homework stored on it. Perhaps even your corkscrew will be seized because your ‘unwanted guests’ believe it is actually a USB-stick. Without blinking an eye the investigators seize everything while they have no idea what information is actually on the devices. And when the seizure is enacted based on a request for mutual assistance the public prosecutor and even investigating judges are simply executing their assignment and want to send all seized data to the country which requested them to do so. In practice the investigators and the public prosecutor seem to not even take a look at their ‘catch’ or filter the information for relevance. They – seem to – believe it is up to the other state to invest what data is relevant for their criminal investigations. But what about (y)our privacy?READ MORE