SV: [OPE] Sweden's new surveillance law

Martin.Kragh@hhs.se

Thanks for your note Jerry. What's especially interesting is how residents in completely different countries will be affected by the new Swedish legislation, should it pass through parliament. As I mentioned in the previous note, the surveillance covers all communication passing Swedish borders. This means that a Chinese mail passing through a Swedish server, or any other way around, will be going through the "fishing net" (term used by the FRA). The surveillance institute - FRA - has openly acknowledged its cooperation with foreign intelligence, but not even the government knows exactly what this really means (is it a lot? A little? No one can say). 

In reality, thus, only a few countries would actually need this form of surveillance, and any e-mail anywhere in the world will be subjected to it. A pretty safe bet is that many countries will opt to on the one hand publicly criticize this form of surveillance, but on the other hand take advantage of sharing intelligence with countries that do have it. 

Kind regards
Martin   

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: ope-bounces@lists.csuchico.edu [mailto:ope-bounces@lists.csuchico.edu] För glevy@pratt.edu
Skickat: den 10 juni 2008 16:54
Till: Outline on Political Economy mailing list
Ämne: Re: [OPE] Sweden's new surveillance law

Thanks for this update, Martin. It is quite alarming.  The
rationalization  
for these drastic measures has been
expanding: it is claimed that
the state needs to monitor email, etc.
not only to combat "terrorism"
but also to combat child
pornography, etc.   This is typical: first  they
introduce measures against unpopular groups, causes and
activities 
and then they expand their scope to everything and
everyone else. What a long
time ago it seems when everyone was
talking about the "freedom" of the Internet!
You might
recall that - not so many years ago - there were many who 
opposed any commercial use of the Web, but look what has happened
since!

In solidarity, Jerry

> When the
former Social Democratic government representative Thomas 
>
Bodström (nowadays a rather retired and poor fiction novelist) argued
for 
> total surveillance of e-mail and mobile communications a
few years ago, 
> few people took him seriously. This proposal has
now been made real, as 
> the new right wing coalition parties are
in agreement, and majority, to 
> push this legislation through
parliament. This legislation is the most far 
> reaching ever on
an international level, even in comparison with the 
> criticized
American "Patriot Act", and obviously way more advanced than 
> could ever China or North Korea dream of. The organization in
charge is 
> the "FRA", a military institution whose
previous goal was to scan the 
> traffic of the Baltic sea (which
they still are?). Since the end of the 
> Cold War, they're raison
d'être seems to be "terrorism". Transparency is 
>
very low, and threatens individual integrity. Anyone is subject to 
> surveillance on political ground (by government decision), with no
need 
> for court decision or scrutiny. Any communication going
through the 
> borders of Sweden - which is a lot considering the
structure of the global 
> hub network - will be subject to
surveillance. In Sweden, the media debate 
> seems however more
concerned over other issues deemed more urgent. After 
> all, the
European Soccer Cup is in full effect. 
> 
> More info in
English can be found here: 
> 
>
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.11/nsa-fra-sweden 
> 
> Considering the current power balance of the parliament, only four
right 
> wing party representatives will need to vote against
party line to stop 
> this legislation. The Social Democrats, the
Green Party and the former 
> Communist Party are voting against.
It will be interesting to see what 
> happens. 
>

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