Instant messaging as a “hybrid warfare tool”. Tomasz Siemoniak: work is underway to change the regulations

Siemoniak was asked on Tuesday in Program Pierwszy Polskiego Radia about the changes in the law concerning the possibility of extending surveillance to include communicators that are not directly attached to a telephone number. – This applies more to special services, but also, of course, the police – the minister replied, pointing out that other countries already have such solutions.

He noted that “the point is for the regulations to catch up with the development of technology”. – In Poland, we have regulations from 20 years ago, when the Internet and telecommunications were at a completely different stage of development. The point is to introduce changes in a calm manner, in discussions with social organizations, civil rights organizations and companies – he added.

He said that these are issues of control of the Republic of Poland over telecommunications transit. – We should know what is passing through our territory – he emphasized Tomasz Siemoniak.

He pointed out that this is also a matter of storing data in the country. – Currently, some data is stored separately from the territory. We would like the services to be able to return to what was a year ago or some time ago, so this data must be stored in Poland – he said.

He noted that it was not about surveillance. – Since January alone, we have had a dozen or so attempted acts of sabotage and a dozen or so people have been arrested. The Internet and instant messaging have become a tool of hybrid warfare today and services of a foreign state use them to commission various acts on Polish territory – said Minister Siemoniak.

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He informed that “intensive work is underway on changing the prime minister's order, which constructs what the services' application to the prosecutor's office and the court for surveillance looks like”. – We would like to provide as much information as possible to the judges who decide – said the head Ministry of Interior and Administration. He admitted that “this does not require changes to the law.”

He assured that “Pegasus, or something like Pegasus for surveillance of inconvenient political opponents or inconvenient prosecutors – will never come back.”

– Pegasus has become a symbol of using a tool that should be used against terrorists and spies, against inconvenient political opponents. (…) The services do not use this type of software, but in accordance with the law, they must have various tools, if only to fight terrorists and spies, because this fight directly translates into the security of Poland and our citizens – said Siemoniak.

He noted that “today cyberspace is just as important, just as critical for security, as the one in which we move.”

Siemoniak announced a similar concept on Monday at a press conference. He said that the government “is drawing conclusions from all threats” and “the cyberspace sphere is becoming increasingly important.”

– When drawing these conclusions, we take into account that some regulations have been in force for decades, technologies are changing, operating principles are changing and we want to undertake the effort to change the regulations together with the entire government – he stressed and added that on the one hand it is about “preserving the right to privacy” and on the other hand about “giving the services the ability to protect citizens if threats occur”.

– We would like the direction of these changes to be to extend the provisions that apply to electronic communications related to telephone numbers to that part that is numberless – he explained.

– We would also like to be able to ensure, as part of data retention, that various operators are obliged to keep this data in Poland and not on foreign servers – added the minister.