Four nongovernmental organizations have sent an open letter to several national and European institutions, asking for the cancellation of a Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) project, financed by European funds, which they claim is allegedly a ‘mass surveillance’ one, APADOR-CH informs.
“APADOR-CH, together with three other NGOs, has sent today an open letter to several national and European institutions (European Commission, Ministry of European Funds, the Prime Minister, MCSI, the Parliamentary SRI Control Committee, CSAT), voicing concern over a mass surveillance project implemented by the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), with European funding,” reads a press release from the Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania – Helsinki Committee.
According to the source, SRI has won a European funded project by which it intends to purchase software and hardware worth EUR 25 million for the “strengthening and ensuring the interoperability of the information systems.”
“The project, called ‘SII Analytics’ has the potential of generalized surveillance of the entire population of Romania – a genuine Big Brother system – without providing any measure to safeguard the citizens’ rights or limiting the SRI or other public institutions’ access to the personal data collected and integrated into this system, a slippage that seriously violates the fundamental rights,” the statement reads.
The association claims that the project was submitted on June 9, the day after the call for EU structural funds had been publicly released, and was approved very quickly, currently SRI conducting an auction for the purchase of the necessary equipment and software.
According to APADOR-CH, the project allegedly aims at creating a joint database from most Romanian public institutions that would allow looking for any information about citizens, the service having uncontrolled access to information.
The signatories ask for the cancellation of the auction and of the project, arguing that they violate the fundamental rights. It also calls for including in the terms of accessing European funds, explicitly, of the ban to use them for the infringement or limitation of the citizens’ rights and for the public debate of the SRI’s role in the Romanian society, including the related legislation and the effective warranties to stop abuses of this type and institutional transparency for any project exceeding the original national security framework.
The Romanian Intelligence Service has not provided any details on this subject.