Austria chancellor urges more comms monitoring after Taylor Swift plot

11/8/2024 17:37

        Austria's chancellor said on Sunday his country's intelligence agencies should have greater power to monitor communications on messaging apps to stop extremists after a planned suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna was thwarted this week.
        
        Swift's three planned concerts were cancelled after Austrian authorities got wind of a plot led by a 19-year-old youth to launch an ISIS-inspired suicide attack at a soccer stadium where tens of thousands of fans were planning to attend the shows.
        
        News of the planned attack has reanimated debate over the tight restrictions Austria has in comparison to other western nations on the monitoring of messaging communications just as the country gears up for an election on Sept. 29.
        
        "We really need our agencies to be upgraded technically so they're on an equal footing with terrorists, with organised crime, so we can combat them," Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in an interview with Germany's Bild newpsper.