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Swedes Massively Protest Wiretap Law

torrentfreak.com — 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.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 7, 2008

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  • Crisender111, on 07/07/2008, -0/+182Good. Good. Good. People need to take a stance like this. Canada are you listening?

    USA are yo....well..umm.
  • Ilyanep, on 07/07/2008, -1/+115Good to see!

    Now if only people in the US would do the same thing :
  • usrlocalbin, on 07/07/2008, -4/+109The Sweeds have some balls!
    Unlike us Americans....

  • Ecaftar, on 07/07/2008, -0/+71Dugg 'cause of "FRA: STFU GTFO"... and because I'm a Swede
  • spydon, on 07/07/2008, -0/+68I can't understand how they can think that they will catch terrorists with this system... First of all, Sweden has no threat level at all and even if we had, do they think terrorist would E-mail each other in unencrypted messages and organize attacks. This is only going to lead to a mass surveillance system that monitors all Swedes, does that sound like a democratic tool to you?
  • GregIsLegend, on 07/07/2008, -2/+40(sigh)... I don't recall such widespread protests here in the U.S.... :(
  • banmaster, on 07/07/2008, -1/+36Don't disturb them, they're all watching the n'th season of Big Brother or Americas not Got Talent
  • UltraDavid, on 07/07/2008, -3/+38Those guys have the kind of fierce independence and go-get-'em attitude I always used to associate with the USA, but now they have it and we don't. Man... the Swedes are the best Americans on Earth.
  • kolyana, on 07/07/2008, -2/+32Unfortunately this only emphasizes just what a blind, apathetic bunch we in the US really are. As long as we have our TV, sports, beer and Paris Hilton being berated on TV, we don't care how many civil liberties are being traded away 'just out of sight'. Clearly we'd rather open another can or pop another game into the XBox than actually give a damn about anything beyond the boundary of our own front yard.
  • geoken, on 07/07/2008, -0/+24Of course they send unencrypted emails to each other. They also loudly describe their plans in phone conversion while they walk around public areas.
  • tykoz, on 07/07/2008, -2/+25After 9/11 americans have accepted Way too much government control....
  • swrostmore, on 07/07/2008, -4/+27Why would Google move their servers out of Sweden because of a Wiretap law, when they have servers in the US which the Swedes modeled the wiretap law after, and they help the Chinese surveillance state maintain the Golden Shield...
  • Crisender111, on 07/07/2008, -0/+23Peter Sunde (brokep of TPB) at the anti-FRA rally.
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=pE82LMtmsYU
  • Murdats, on 07/08/2008, -0/+20it was written in internet
  • Conwaysb0718, on 07/07/2008, -0/+19most hilarious statement in the whole article... "His email was leaked to the press by another party colleague and Andrén was later heard on a recorded phone-call exclaiming that his secrecy of correspondence had been broken and that it was “Gestapo methods”."

    Did he even know what he was voting for???
  • nblsavage, on 07/07/2008, -5/+24mmmmm Sweedish meatballs.
    (sorry, digg me down for the awful joke)
  • inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+17So it's not limited to only America, this disturbing trend is spiraling around the whole world.

    Oceania...HERE WE COME!
  • carpespasm, on 07/07/2008, -0/+17But we've been taught and told for the last umpteen dozen years that our government has our best interests to look out for and that it's patriotic to let them do whatever they want to stop people who don't like them from having their way, even if they try to cite the US constitution as their basis for opposition.

    Man, that was too much thinking, I need to go veg in front of the TV and slip into an apathetic coma for a while.
  • jisrael, on 07/07/2008, -0/+17I cracked up once I realized that sign wasn't written in Swedish...
  • squarepegs, on 07/07/2008, -0/+16I can guess a few of the reasons. The company is based in the US. It's a bit hard to be based in the US without having any servers there. Relocating all of Google's US employees and operations would be unreasonably disruptive to their business.

    On the other hand, Google probably thinks they can serve Sweden relatively well with servers in Norway or Finland or Denmark. So if you can move a few servers, maintain pretty close to the same level of service, upgrade your security, AND protest a dirty government action, why not?

    I only wish Google would at least move GMail servers outside the reach of invasive regimes like the US, China, and Sweden. Until then, we'll all just have to encrypt private e-mails.
  • Cryoniq, on 07/07/2008, -2/+18Dugg because I am a Swede. This law is a direct threat to democracy. Stasi of old would had an orgasm if they had a tool like this and by law as well.

    So know this, whenever you surf or do something on the Internet, things you do, say etc. could be wiretapped and stored if you do it towards Sweden and it is not hard encrypted. It is very sad times in Sweden now, where some needed companies backed out putting their business in the country. This law and FRA must be pushed back. Seriously.
  • banmaster, on 07/07/2008, -1/+17"This is only going to lead to a mass surveillance system that monitors all Swedes, does that sound like a democratic tool to you?"

    Sounds like America to me.
  • squarepegs, on 07/07/2008, -0/+14Yeah because the 4th Amendment (protection against unreasonable search and seizure for you non-Americans) really helped stop the US government from collecting all its citizens' phone and internet information (ref: AT&T case). Laws are just words on a piece of paper if the people in power choose to ignore them.
  • kevxross, on 07/07/2008, -0/+14Yeah, because nothing like this would ever try to be passed (and most likely succeed) in a country with those amendments.
  • maz2331, on 07/07/2008, -1/+15Interesting...

    So, does this mean that the Pirate Party may have a chance in the next elections?
  • MrViklund, on 07/08/2008, -1/+14Yepp. This is not good. I live in Sweden and no one here likes it. No one. It's sick that this could happen here in a country like Sweden.
    I think that this is just a law passed by the request of the surveillance organization FRA in Sweden so they can stay "relevant". Because right now they got nothing to do. FRA is stuck with listening into the ether. And another thing that have come up in articles here in Sweden is that this law is aimed at Russia. Most of the traffic that goes from and to Russia and the Baltic states is passing trough cables in Sweden. FRA and for that matter the rest of the EU and USA are greatly interested in that information. Especially the USA I would think. These cables makes Sweden the ideal spot got surveillance. But this is sick. It's ECHELON reborn. I hope we can fight this law that was passed fast and quickly without any feed back from the general population and turn it down. And you know what. Even the Police and the Swedish Secret Police have turned against this law. That's incredible and really shows that this law is totally unnecessary and unwarranted.
  • FasterGun, on 07/07/2008, -1/+12Who's talking about WW2?
  • inactive, on 07/08/2008, -1/+11Unsure where I stand on this. Email should be encrypted, even if you are just telling your friends about your latest additions to your Hello Kitty sticker collection. Both the content and the transport should be encrypted. Gmail is one example of a mail provider that encrypts the transport using TLS. It is up to the end user to encrypt ther message body.

    If people insist on using other peoples corporate mail servers, then the payload at least should be encrypted. It doesn't even have to be something complicated. In firefox and thunderbird for example you can install the add-on "leet key" and use a easy to remember passphrase with AES-256 encryption.

    Example:

    fiExNjAhViEwIRsBITAhITAhLfwk4wTy4J2HBnd+ITExITAOK18tfTfVfLa91FPsVvEXh4sCOy21
    M1wvcnH5rVNPEpKhITEyIUW7LRQ=

    Password is abc123. Just AES decrypt. Of course you would use a password that is a little stronger.

    People should always assume that their conversations are monitored and recorded. There are no countries in the history of human kind that I am aware of that suggest privacy anywhere outside of your home. When you send emails or surf the web, the data has left your home in clear text. The internet is public space and less secure than a postcard. It was built by DARPA and a handful of geeks. Nothing along the way suggested privacy.
  • shakbhaji, on 07/08/2008, -0/+9Well, Americans might not be listening, but our government sure as hell is...
  • Rikkochet, on 07/07/2008, -0/+9Google's policy is to do no evil..... Unless we're talking about a superpower, in which case the cake is simply too big to pass up.
  • Stormwern, on 07/08/2008, -0/+96.6M emails from a 9M population, not bad.
  • pauliusuza, on 07/07/2008, -1/+10Nutjob
  • VitaminH, on 07/08/2008, -0/+9I'm sorry I didn't hear you I was to busy looking at the latest paparazzi pics of Britney Spears. She's important to my freedom.
  • Stormwern, on 07/07/2008, -0/+9Probably ties in with the small government think. What any country needs is not a big government or a small government, but a functioning government. If you want a small government you can argue it's not working because it's too big, if you want it big you'll have to fight corruption because there's really no logical alternative.

    Nothing wrong with capitalism, just turns a bit into the wild west when you're not sure what you want the government to be.
  • Stavrosian, on 07/08/2008, -0/+9You can blame the Netherlands and the UK respectively for those formats.
  • Cryoniq, on 07/07/2008, -0/+8No he didn't. They could just as well voted yes not being told what they voted for in the first place with their extremely poor knowledge (and it is way common Im sad to tell).
  • ronjon13, on 07/07/2008, -5/+13crafty swedes
  • nedzeve, on 07/07/2008, -1/+8Well, to their credit, they tend to be physically stronger and taller.
  • swrostmore, on 07/08/2008, -0/+7It's modeled after the Patriot Act, they basically used the USA as a precedent for their own surveillance state. Thanks GW Bush!
  • inactive, on 07/07/2008, -2/+8I just can't decide if I am glad it's not just the US that has a corrupt government, or be sad because Sweden also has a corrupt government. What is happening in the world today? Why can't these greedy power hungry old farts realize what they are doing?
  • Ciryon, on 07/07/2008, -1/+7This goes for Norwegians also because many of our cellular and web servers are located in Sweden.
  • KhaaL, on 07/07/2008, -1/+7I hope they'll arrange another protest. I've been unable to participate at the latest two protests and that makes me feel so ashamed, even though I've protested in every other possible way...
  • AvangionQ, on 07/08/2008, -1/+6"When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson ... when enough people get sick and tired of the politics of fear and take to the streets in organized activism, all take notice and it starts a wave of reform -- this is exactly what we need here at home in the United States, but it seems that we need a unifying event to get such a movement kickstarted ...
  • yetAnotherCroc, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5It was never intended to catch terrorists. Thats just the justification. It's intended to be used for whatever purpouse the powers that be will deem necessary in order to stay in power.
  • banmaster, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5Um, no its not.
  • carpespasm, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5Even more so if the people don't give a ***** enough to fight it when the people in power ignore them.
  • picturestorm, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5I'm British and I see no bias towards Americans, I for one like you guys and have spent a lot of time in the States. Unfortunately posting things like that doesn't help the stereotype you guys get.
  • inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5In San Francisco...

    We have protesters protesting, protesters.

    There's also a man downtown that comes out everyday to protest Jesus.

    Unrelated: There's a bum that hides behind a fake bush to scare tourists on the wharf, whilst Hooters girls on roller skates slap stickers on 13 year olds.
  • Wartz, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5Sweden declaring war on Germany would be about as retarded as Cuba declaring war on the US.
  • soulkitchen, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4"Sweden is a land of sodomy, bestiality, and incest. See more (here!)"
    I clicked the link. There's boobs in there.
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