Slashdot Mirror
Sweden's Snoop Law Targets Russia
praps writes "There's been much controversy lately over Sweden's new law which allows the signal intelligence agency (FRA) to monitor all data traffic within the country's borders. 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 percent 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.'" Related: EuroConcerned writes "Many things are happening in Sweden after the new legislation on wiretapping has been voted.
TorrentFreak has an article on what's going on, including massive protests and Google moving their servers away from the country."
It's good to know people aren't sitting back and are actually protesting this law in person. Americans could probably learn something from that... Google checking out of the country definitely packs a punch too, even if there isn't much of an economic impact.
That only works as long as you're greater than 50% of the population.
I'm not trying to be a "USA SUCKS" guy (in this case). We obviously have legitimate concerns with Russia and if we aren't doing everything we can to monitor their traffic, we're really screwing up in the intelligence arena (again).
So, if we decided to monitor them, we'd go for the choke point, a place where all the Russian traffic flows, right? Of course Sweeden is a fairly open society (as opposed to ours) and I'm guessing they wouldn't attempt to help us without doing at least the bare minimum "above the covers".
So I suppose I'd be awfully surprised if we weren't behind all this.
Or if you think about it from the other direction--what use would Sweden itself have for intelligence about Russia beyond that of selling/giving it to governments that could do something with it?
I think the concern in Sweden is about traffic that crosses the borders but which has one endpoint in the country. If you can spy on any traffic crossing the borders, that means that Swedes who communicate internationally or who communicate with other Swedes using international communications infrastructure are just as eligible.
Is there some protection for two Swedes in Sweden who use, for example, Slashdot to communicate?
A few things:
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 would be great, but IIRC they were almost ignored at the polls last time...you don't go from a fringe party getting a negligible number of votes to winning an election in just a few years.
Next, we often speculate at what would happen if a populace were to massively protest a government action, and this is an interesting indication that it wouldn't do a thing. There seems to be more protest action on this in Sweden than there has been on the Iraq war and the FISA bill combined in the states, and the politicians aren't going to budge by the looks of it. Quite frightening.
Third, I love the "FRA: STFU GTFO" banner XD
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I was thinking about the same. Personally, I'd want that person removed from his office. He voted quite obviously on a bill he neither read, understood, nor understood the implications thereof. How the fuck does he DARE to vote on it?
Seriously, if politicians had to survive in private business, they'd be fired on the spot.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It was the _opposition_ that first proposed this law. Then after the election, a shift of government and: the same law gets passed. Nice.
How can they tell the difference in a real-time fashion? Additionally, who is monitoring the "lookers" to ensure they are obeying the rules?
Furthermore, servers are often located all over the world. If you use a chat service of some kind, the information often leaves the area, then returns. Thus, this could be ruled as having been "crossing Swedens borders" but was actually Swedish traffic all along.
I think the overwhelming problems are:
1. Probably not enough oversight to ensure power is not being abused.
2. The ever-present slippery slope
3. Tough to discern the difference between international and local traffic in a uniform way
4. Costs a lot of money for arguable returns
Crackin' Wise - Blogging about whatever we want
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.
This new law is so strange that it makes me think that the Swedish government is under the influence of a larger power.. I wouldn't be surprised if the United States or some other country had something to do with this, but who knows..
Meanwhile, the major opposing party Socialdemokraterna (socialistic democratic party) has vowed to undo the law if it wins the next election.
Full Tilt
There's nothing strange about Russia flexing its muscle. The whole reason that Putin became so popular is because he made sure that Russia was again taken seriously after Yeltsin's era. He may be oppressive to a certain extent and the riches may go mainly to his friends, but at least Russia is respected again.
And sure, Putin's Russia (and possible Medvedev's as well) is quite dangerous in various ways. But so are various terrorist organisations. However, they are nothing compared to the political leaders of the so called "free and democratic western world" who use those spectres to completely undermine the foundations of our society and let themselves be used by idiots dreaming about fantasy worlds they can only save by having ever increasing surveillance powers.
They probably honestly think they are doing this for the best of all, but somehow they lose sight of the fact that they are completely destroying whatever it is that they are supposed to be protecting in the process. But when things happen gradually, it's often very hard to notice stuff like that, especially when you're in the middle of it.
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Harsh, but in the last election they did vote in a bunch of right-wing clagnuts.
You know what Sweden: you vote for arseholes, you get arseholes.
I used to think that phrase meant something. Then I realized how many completely incompetent people there are in private industry.
In a Parliamentary System it's generally easier for an mp or a rep to vote the party line because in most cases they haven't any choice in the matter; there's less need to understand exactly what they're voting for because Mommy Party takes care of all.
In the US system, generally reps are freer to vote against their party and forge alliances across party lines even on major legislation, so knowledge of bills is often more important for the individual rep. Of course many reps vote the straight party line anyway, but at least there's more independence and choice. Nex