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Massive Backlash Against Sweden's Internet Spying Bill
from the and-the-response? dept
We were surprised that politicians in Sweden approved a highly questionable bill that allowed rather widespread spying on all sorts of internet communications, despite widespread protests. Of course, now that the bill has become law, it seems that the protests are only getting much, much louder, going beyond the initial group of bloggers complaining to the mainstream press, and including large companies like Google and Telia moving servers out of Sweden to protect their users. Plus, nearby Belgium is threatening to sue, pointing out that Belgian citizens may be spied on without any apparent reason. Amazingly, the politicians who approved this bill are staying largely silent, despite the growing clamor about it. They originally tried to brush off the complaints from "spirited amateurs" who just need to just need to "calm down." But that doesn't seem to be working very well.
While it's unclear what will happen here, this is just the latest in a long line of recent efforts to bring together people to call attention to questionable political moves that politicians in the past have been able to sneak through with little public scrutiny. While there is always some risk of misdirecting the potential "mob mentality" that can arise in these situations, it should make politicians start to think twice before believing they can just sneak through any law.
While it's unclear what will happen here, this is just the latest in a long line of recent efforts to bring together people to call attention to questionable political moves that politicians in the past have been able to sneak through with little public scrutiny. While there is always some risk of misdirecting the potential "mob mentality" that can arise in these situations, it should make politicians start to think twice before believing they can just sneak through any law.
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It's not "mob mentality"...
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Big Brothers
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piin4mo4oO/dhJFpeD+5 XnpFvYCprFQWZDAUp/zD1RQYqOBZXyLUIAeUF2LyGPll
UBlMMe0E27RYjfSPnZBvHuGlIw==
=Ls+6
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----
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Sweden dropped the ball on this one.
What's next? Opening mail - like they do for criminals in prison?
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Spying!
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Yes.
(sorry for DPing, Mike)
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European geography
'Nearby' as in you have to travel through both Denmark and Germany to get there :-)
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"'Nearby' as in you have to travel through both Denmark and Germany to get there :-)"
'Nearby' as in you can drive there in a day from southern Sweden -- the distance by car between Malmö and Brussels is less than 1000 km.
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Re:
I like the way it works, but Private Keys are only as good as those who secret the keys.
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Re: Spying!
The kicker... It's our tax money they use against us. :(
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