Campaign

The 4 November letters were the first part of a series of campaigns by Bits of Freedom to inform citizens about the law and help them make an informed decision on 21 March. The letter people received directed them to a website that stated the letter was part of a campaign. On the website “Where do you draw the line?”, people are shown five short, animated videos that explain the most important and controversial parts of the new law: bulk interception, oversight, real-time access, exchange with foreign services, and the use of zero days. After each video people get to choose whether this particular part of the law is acceptable to them or not.

Within hours of the first responses to the letter appearing on social media, the Dutch secret service (AIVD) tweeted that the letter was not real. Local police forces warned citizens the letter was fake and in a few odd cases even called on people to destroy the letter. These messages only helped the campaign: people’s reactions were overwhelmingly positive and supportive!