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Swiss intelligence snooping violates constitution: court ruling

Surveillance of the intelligence service violates fundamental rights
Surveillance of the intelligence service violates fundamental rights Keystone-SDA

Cross-border radio and cable surveillance by the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) has been ruled incompatible with the Constitution and the Convention on Human Rights by the Federal Administrative Court.

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The legislator must rectify the shortcomings as part of the ongoing revision of the law, the court has ruled.

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It cannot be guaranteed that FIS only processes significant and correct data. The applicable law does not contain any precautions to protect journalistic sources and other particularly sensitive communications such as those between lawyers and clients.

Finally, neither a sufficiently effective supervision of the procurement of information is guaranteed, nor is there a sufficiently effective legal remedy available to those affected for a subsequent review.

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