Internet Snooping in Sweden

Sweden's parliament has approved amendments limiting the scope of a controversial new law that allows all emails and telephone calls to be monitored in the name of national security.

The amendments were supported by 158 members of parliament following a heated debate in the chamber, and rejected by 153 deputies. One MP abstained.

The original legislation was adopted by a thin majority in June 2008. But an outcry erupted afterwards when it emerged that many of the MPs did not know the details of the law and critics within the four-party government claimed they were pressured to tow their party lines and support it.

As a result, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right government agreed to make changes. The law, which went into effect in January 2009, gives the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA), a civilian agency despite its name, the right to tap all cross-border Internet and telephone communication.

Among other things, the amendment specifies that only the government and the military can ask FRA to carry out surveillance, that a special court must grant an authorisation for each case of monitoring, and that all raw material must be destroyed after one year.

It also limits eavesdropping to cases defined as external military threats, peacemaking or humanitarian efforts abroad, international terrorism, and development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, among others.

It also bars FRA from monitoring emails where both the senders and recipients are in Sweden, after critics pointed out that even emails sent between two people in Sweden can cross the border to be transmitted by servers located abroad.

Those who have been monitored must also be informed.

Despite the changes, the law remains controversial in Sweden, and the left-wing opposition said it would tear up the legislation if it came to power in next year's general election.

In June the Swedish parliament passed a controversial surveillance law that gives authorities a mandate to read all email and listen in on all phone calls without warrant or court order. In response to the law, The Pirate Party organized rallies, bloggers and journalists turned into activists, and even Google decided to relocate their servers.

The aftermath of the vote on wiretapping legislation has been turbulent, to say the least. Bloggers have not wasted a minute in their criticism, mainstream media eventually caught up and the newspapers are now running stories and editorials every day. Various viral campaigns have flourished along with grassroots activism and The Pirate Party has hauled full sails to catch the wind that will blow them straight into European Parliament during the elections of 2009.

That's not all. Google and former public telecoms company Telia moved their servers out of Sweden. Belgium says it will sue Sweden since Belgian citizens may be wiretapped without any apparent reason. Anne Ramberg, secretary-general of the Swedish Bar Association, has called for challenges to the law in Swedish and European courts and similar demands have been heard from several other interest groups, like the Journalist's Union.

See full article from Slashdot

The Swedish government has kept curiously quiet about the new law's objectives but sources close to the intelligence community say that Russia is the prime target. 80% of Russia's contacts with large parts of the world travel through cables in Sweden. That is the core of the issue, said one source.

Sweden voted in favour of its controversial snoop law, after the proposal was amended.

Under the new law, all communication across Swedish borders will be tapped, and information can also be traded with international security agencies, such as America's National Security Agency.

A total of 143 members of parliament voted to pass the bill into law, with 138 delegates opposed.

Earlier , prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt failed to win the backing of his four-party coalition: the draft was sent back to the committee for revision. Key members of parliament who were likely to vote against the proposition were put under pressure by their parties, according to some reports.

Despite receiving copies of George Orwell's book 1984 from protesters earlier this week, MPs from Sweden's ruling party believe the law does not constitute the final nail in the coffin of democracy.

The amended law includes the creation of an agency to control the granting of permissions. The Swedish Data Inspection Board is to monitor the surveillance activities of the National Defence Radio Establishment. An external group comprising members appointed by the government will monitor privacy and integrity issues.

Pirates are the Good Guys vs the State Villains

Thanks to Donald
See Pirate Party to take Sweden to EU court from The Local

Sweden's Pirate Party has said it will take the country to the European Court of Human Rights in a bid to overturn a far-reaching eavesdropping law passed by the Riksdag on Wednesday evening.

• 'Yes' to surveillance law (18 Jun 08)
• Snoop law vote to go ahead (18 Jun 08)
• 'Orwellian law must be stopped' (18 Jun 08)

Deputy leader Christian Engström told The Local that the Pirate Party believed the new law was in clear breach of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.