Samenvatting

The Dutch regulation of phone tapping has a great deal of safeguards built in to ensure that this investigation method isn't used flippantly. Despite this, it appears that phone tapping is far more commonly used in The Netherlands than in any other western nation, including England, Sweden and Germany. This study shows that, due to differences in registration of phone tapping statistics, it is difficult to compare various countries' practices. However, it does appear that the Dutch authorities don't perceive to have viable alternatives to phone tapping. The limited alternatives that they do (perceive themselves to) have, such as infiltration, pose even greater ethical considerations, making them less attractive. Authorities in England, Sweden and Germany appear to use alternative investigation methods much more frequently than those in The Netherlands. Some examples of the types of alternatives more often resorted to in other countries are the use of traffic data, (intrusive) surveillance and various forms of infiltration. A comparison of the regulations in all four countries showed differences in the degree to which phone tapping is perceived to pose ethical considerations (posing a threat to the privacy of citizens) as an investigatory method.