The Swiss public have backed the government in implementing strict surveillance laws. More than 65% of the population have voted in favour.

Early polls showed that the majority of the voters would have voted in favour of the new law, after the recent terror attacks in Europe and US. The GfS Bern research institute polls indicates that 55% of the population would vote for the surveillance law.

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The new law will give the government more power to monitor its citizens. It will be able to tap into, but not be limited to, individuals phones and emails.

The Switzerland Federal Intelligence Service has stated that it will only use the services once a month and will only monitor those who are considered a threat.

Privacy is considered a vital right in the Switzerland this is why the vote was held. However, not everyone agrees that increased surveillance is a good thing.

The Defence Minister Guy Parmelin has previously said this new law will not "go well beyond what is desired in terms of individual liberty and security for our citizens".

Switzerland has a law in place which means that if 50,000 signatures oppose a law within three months of its passing, a public referendum will be held on it.

A small, Swiss-based, tech company called ProtonMail, which provides an encrypted email service, has also previously prevented a surveillance law from being enacted in Switzerland.

Earlier this year the chief executive of the company, Andy Yen, told the Intercept: "When you talk about data privacy, all our data goes online — we have to find a way to secure it. At the end of the day, this privacy comes as a result of security."

Swiss law prevents the government from using secret surveillance unless the public votes to support it. Currently, if the government needs to monitor individuals it must use the information which is already available to the public.