The Swedish parliament will tomorrow vote on proposals to give government the power to monitor all phone calls, texts and emails both domestically and passing through the country’s infrastructure.
Mirroring the growing hostility to the extension of state surveillance in the UK, anger at the proposal has resulted in a possible government defeat in tomorrow’s vote if enough duputies defy their whips.
A campaign largely led by bloggers has been reinforced by Google’s announcement that it will not place any servers in Sweden if the proposal is passed. Even a former head of the Swedish security services, Anders Eriksson, has said that the proposal would put too much power into government hands and that too much reliance is being put on the good will of the state.
Sweden, somnolent paradise of super statism, might be about to get a wake up call. Fingers crossed.
Tags: internet, monitoring, surveillance, sweden
