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Dutch police use spyware to track suspects online

Dutch police are using spyware which can be installed on suspects’ computers to trace internet use or listen in to private conversations.

The disclosure comes two months after police in several German states admitted using so-called “Bundestroyaner” (state trojan) software, which is capable of far more detailed surveillance than the law allows.

The German company Digitask, which produces the spyware, told newspaper nrc.next that it had sold its products to a Dutch government agency.

The identity of the agency was not revealed, but in a written reply to opposition politicians, justice minister Ivo Opstelten admitted that the National Police Services Agency (Korps Landelijke Politiediensten/KLPD) had access to the software.

Opstelten insisted that all such tracking activity had to be approved by a state prosecutor, and any functions that went beyond the limits of the law were switched off.

The minister refused to go into detail about how the national police agency used the service, citing security reasons, but disclosed that it was used by the national interception unit, which all police departments have access to.

Source: NRC: KLPD gebruikt ‘afluister-software’ op computers verdachten

Photo by mystic_mabel

See also: National Police Services Agency