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international

The 'Uva Persons of the Year': the students who initiated a referendum

Sterre van der Hee,
21 december 2017 - 10:00

Every year Folia nominates five candidates for the award ‘UvA Persons of the Year,’ of which the most noteworthy is crowned ‘UvA Person of the Year’. This year Folia chose the group of students who initiated the upcoming referendum on the Intelligence and Security Services Act.

‘The law undermines our freedom of speech’. ‘It will enable government and intelligent services to tap into citizen communication channels. This is unacceptable. Privacy is the basis of our society.’ ‘What will happen when a new government is installed? The data could be used for anything.’

 

This is the reason a group of five students carried out a petition — signed by 407.582 people — demanding a referendum on the new law, which gives more power to the intelligence services. The referendum will take place on March 21, at the same time as the municipal elections. Whether they will succeed is unclear, but the students are mainly concerned with encouraging debate. ‘The issue was barely covered by the media. Now, after news entered on the referendum, may more people know about the law and what’s at stake. We won’t let a decision like this pass behind our backs.’

 

The five students are Luca van der Kamp (22, Master of Logic), Marlou Gijzen (23, Master of Logic), Tijn de Vos (20, Mathematics), Nina Boelsums (22, Industrial Design) and PhD student Joran van Apeldoorn (23, Quantom Computing).