Cvrtila: We cannot be satisfied with how the intelligence services are monitored

At VERN University, a panel discussion was held on the topic “Citizen Privacy or National Security – one, the other, or both?” featuring Dean Vlatko Cvrtila, Žarko Puhovski, Marko Rakar, and Višeslav Raos.

The first public presentation of VERN’s Dean Vlatko Cvrtila took place on ‘his home turf’ as the discussion revolved around national security. The current topic, in light of scandals such as the Snowden case and WikiLeaks, raises the question of what is more important – national security or citizen privacy.

In his opening speech, Cvrtila emphasized that Snowden is neither the first nor the last to disclose such information, but that citizen privacy is certainly at risk.
– If privacy is compromised, then their freedoms are automatically compromised as well. This leads to a reduction in democracy. Technology is changing society, and we must be aware of that. The state’s capacity for national security is increasing, but citizens’ freedoms are declining – said Cvrtila.
He pointed out that the state must take care of national security and methods that some may not like. At the opening of the panel discussion, Žarko Puhovski presented an interesting thesis.

– Eavesdropping has existed for 300 years, but back then it was kings and queens who were monitored. Today, ordinary citizens are being listened to. There are three aspects to the problem, and the most important is that I want to sacrifice my privacy for my security, not national security – said Puhovski, adding that intelligence agencies are very important, but in Croatia, they lack intellectuals and are instead filled with semi-literate individuals.

Cvrtila, who was also an advisor to the president for national security, found gaps in the current oversight of the intelligence community.

– Today, our oversight is exclusively parliamentary, and we know what parliaments are like in transitional countries. This is not well organized, and we cannot be satisfied with how the services are monitored. In the end, our guys are always protected – said Cvrtila.

Experienced blogger Marko Rakar touched on a larger problem, which is the oversight of private agencies such as retail chains.

– They today collect information about us through various loyalty cards and use it. Everything is recorded, and our profile is built based on that. With simple tools, I can learn a lot about my interlocutor without much effort, and the question is where the boundaries of control lie – emphasized Rakar.
To this, Puhovski added a recent case from England when daily newspapers had their own eavesdropping center.
– The problem is not that the state is listening to me, as there are oversight mechanisms in place, but when private individuals do it, no one controls them. The problem is that they provide information that we do not need, such as what is happening with Severina’s son, while they conceal important information about the health status of politicians – he added.
He also mentioned that anonymity is a problem on the internet because one can threaten and insult anonymously without knowing who is behind it. The question also arose about personal data and whose property it is. While for Višeslav Raos this is not defined, Puhovski believes that this data belongs to the state, as it is legally defined that the destruction of personal documents that you have paid for yourself is an offense.