Samenvatting

The future of wiretapping is threatened by encryption and developments in the telecommunications industry. Internet communications changed the wiretapping landscape fundamentally. In practice it is often impossible to wiretap all possible internet connections. Not all communication providers are obliged to execute wiretap orders. This limits the use of a wiretap in an increasingly digital world. Although the content of certain encrypted Voice-over-IP communications and private messages might not be visible to law enforcement officials, the traffic data are. These traffic data show when the suspect connects to certain communication services, which provide important clues to proceed in a criminal investigation. It is important to have a discussion whether our wiretap laws need to be amended to better fit the needs of law enforcement. However, to make such a debate possible we need transparency. A good first step is to provide details and statistics about the use of internet wiretaps.