These Three Student Warriors Managed To Change The Law

“Is this the kind of world we want to live in? The secret service could be watching this which makes me feel quite uncomfortable. If I Google something they will be able to see and share this. And this data can be intercepted and stored for up to three years. We are students who fight for your right to privacy.”Show more

On 21 of March, the Dutch voted for their right to privacy thanks to these three students.

This law needed to change, so these students decided to change it by themselves. They beveled it was wrong and it needed to be improved.

One year ago the Privacy Law was approved by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. The new law on Intelligence and Security Services gave them more access to a large amount of data on the Internet. This crossed a line so the students decided to instigate a referendum.

“The other night I couldn't sleep so I was on Instagram at 4 am and the next morning I was getting advertisements ‘Oh, you can’t sleep? You are probably depressed, get a psychologist now.’ They can hack my doctor. Somewhere I know that I am being watched. We all have a public transport card and it can track your travel. In the future, they will be able to hack your car or your fridge, or your bed. Those are all things that restrict our privacy.”

“I didn't believe it at first. I just don't get why you should do that. I feel disappointed. That the government mistrusts its citizens. Afterward, I felt a bit angry, I said in a chat room that we should start a referendum and one person volunteered to make a website. And the rest is history.”
The referendum goes in two phases, 10,000 and 300,000 signatures. They managed to reach a total of 407,000 signatures. They were meeting up with institutions and organized debates in order to prepare for everything.
“Privacy, to me, means the right to be human, to be able to follow my curiosity, to experiment, to make mistakes, because when I can’t do that and all my actions have consequences then I can’t develop myself, or express myself.”

The referendum vote was held on the 21st of March. The citizens got the chance to be heard by a turnout of 51,5%. They expressed disagreement with this law and 49,44% voted against it.