PRISM whistleblower revelations 'shocking' says minister

Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz during a press conference in Warsaw, Wednesday: photo - PAP/Rafal Guz

Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz said he “did not have information that would allow me to state clearly what the scale of the phenomenon is,” as regards how secure Polish internet users are.

“This is under investigation,” he added, after Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency computer technician told the Guardian (UK) and Washington Post of how the so-called PRISM system used by the national Security agency gains access to the private communications of users of nine popular Internet services.

Snowden, now in hiding in Hong Kong, said that PRISM enables “collection directly from the servers” of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and other online companies.

The EU's justice minister Viviane Reding has written the United States' attorney general saying she was concerned that PRISM, "could have grave adverse consequences for the fundamental rights of EU citizens".

Reding adds that United States law enforcement officers should only be given access to EU citizens' data being held on US companies' servers in "clearly defined, exceptional and judicially reviewable situations".

Minister Sienkiewicz told journalists on Wednesday that the Polish government is already preparing an 'anti-Big Brother' law which would “limit information on citizens being collected by telecommunications companies, security services and the police, and reduce and control video surveillance”.

The current law, however, “would not cover the internet, as this is in the hands of the Ministry of Digitalization” but solutions would be found on an “EU-wide level” he said. (pg)

source: PAP