Goodbye, democracy
 

The Parliament of Sweden (Riksdag) passed Preposition 2006/07:63 a few minutes ago (143 YEA, 138 NAY, 67 ABSTAIN). Essentially, this means that government wiretapping of all electronic communication which "crosses the borders of Sweden" (which in practice means almost ALL electronic communication due to our common routing through nearby nations) has been legalized. To put it in other terms: None of our phone calls, e-mails, text messages or browsing habits are subject to privacy any longer.

Google has stated it will move its servers out of Sweden, and several of our phone and internet operators have already started to move out of this country. This is not just bad, it is catastrophic on an Orwellian scale. DDR was the last nation in Europe to have a law similar to, but not as bad as this one.

After I post this message, I will begin encryption of all of my electronic signals without exception. I will also leave Sweden as soon as possible, hopefully before it is too late to escape the Big Brother information society that was created tonight. I am not joking about this. Thank you.

What was the motivating reason behind the passing of this bill? Terrorism?

Indeed, amongst related arguments which are meant as evident evocation of fear (e.g. bombings and organized crime). Members of the Swedish "liberal" parties currently in power have been extremely evasive about specific comments relating to these portrayed threats.

In fact, since the 2001 WTC bombings, terrorism has hardly been discussed at all here. The "aftermath" of the London and Spain bombings involved around a week of public debate before falling into oblivion.

Things just seem too hasty. I have no doubt whatsoever that there are other interests behind this than to protect our citizens from terrorism. Political pressures from the U.S. relating to The Pirate Bay is the first thing that comes to mind, but who knows what this will lead to?

I just looked this up on The Pirate Bay.

This is an exact quote. Apparently it's too late though.

Chruser, run away as soon as possible!

Drr Drr Drr

You can live in my basement.

Well, this is just too stupid. I'm left speechless.

Speechless by the hands of the Swedish authority?

Is there any other information to support such a preposition? What silliness.

Any ideas on which country you will emigrate to?

None has been made public.


Ideas for countries which offer 100/10 mbps connection with no bandwidth transfer caps for $50 or less per month are welcome.

He could come to England - we're not monitored as much, after all. :rolleyes:

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I can't see people letting this go without a fight. Is it possible for another vote to be called? Without the majority, the group that said "YEA" have to be careful with any more laws in relation to this one, no?

None has been made public.


Ideas for countries which offer 100/10 mbps connections with no bandwidth transfer caps for $50 or less per month are welcome.

I am confident the legislation will be combated in the European Court of Human Rights, but who knows how long that will take? The "Alliance" government currently in power has completely disregarded their voters and portrayed ideals, and who knows what they'll accomplish in the next few years until re-election?

Oh, so it's not a single party, but rather a coalition govt.?

Indeed. The current coalition government that rules Sweden has been in power since 2006.

Let me know when you find a country that has freedom.

Seriously.

England is well on it's way. Nanny state.

I'm kinda speechless, I figured Homeland Security would have passed this before Sweden.

How's South Korea? :D

Well, that's pretty fucked up. My condolences.

america hasent got that butwere i live the internet is slow with ie but with firfox it is faster

The Patriot Act?

You make me lol.

You keep telling yourself that.

It's essentially the same thing, yeah. Although, I think the recent law in Sweden has a much harsher effect on the people living in Sweden than the Patriot Act has had on us. As Chruser said, businesses are leaving. Sweden is a small country, which means that it's a lot harder to just "hide in the crowd" of the traffic that's leaving the country. I also doubt that Sweden or its government has any desire to do this. I would guess that they've done this due to international pressure to deal with the piracy (from thepiratebay) happening in Sweden. Most likely it was our country, and most likely WE would be the ones sifting through the information being sent out of Sweden, rather than the Swedish government itself.

that is true but in america we could miss it and go stait to the person thats going to bomb a place

Did you just reply to the wrong thread or something?

no i posted it in the right one wore

Could you please try to more completely express your thoughts, then? Most of us can't figure out how what you say is related to what everyone else is saying.

Seconded.

I have no idea what you were replying to or how you were replying, Jamer.

Fixed.

I don't even know what he meant in his post.

I think with better context it might have been understandable.

It feels more like a tangent running off with the whole "hate the government" thing, but I'm not 100% sure if he's in favor or against such actions.

For your english education:

"No, I posted in the correct one, whore."

Chruser, come to Canada. Become a Canadian citizen and help vote out the Conservative government we have in power. I'm surprised they havn't been itching to introduce a bill like this.

Damn, you're good. I couldn't figure out what the hell he meant by "wore."

He is a translator.

I thought it was pretty obvious, myself.

I figured it was something along those lines, but like I've said before, I don't necessarily want to play grammar nazi here. Were I to start, there would be no forseeable end.

Regarding Chruser's conundrum, might I recommend somewhere with sun, beaches, and breasts. I don't have anywhere in particular in mind, but those seem like viable qualifying factors.

This sounds fucking horrible dude. I pray you get out as soon as you possibly can!

As I live in Sweden, this affects me as well. Right now I am trying to decide whether I will move to Canada (I was thinking about Greece, but I want decided I'd rather communicate through English than Greek) or try to rally the people of Sweden and in some way annihilate the FRA. As a man who was semi-responsible for the worst country of the modern world once (almost) said: "He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither."

That's why I'm still in San Diego, despite how expensive it is to live here.

When I first read about the FRA, I couldn't believe that most swedish politicians were going to vote in the affirmative. Probably I was too simple-minded, but Sweden really seem to be a country of double standards. Why cherish the freedom of speech, when every word we speak is stored in a taxpayed storage space to be re-examinated without reason?

Sure, this is no real newsflash. Sweden still has lists of political radicals, and wiretaps even if it's not legal. A lot of things can be put in the limitations of the freedom of speech - let's just make everyone a suspect!