Privacy

Minister of (in)Justice – part 2

Sweden has never had a Minister of Justice who has managed to push through so much legislation hostile to civil liberties in such a short space of time as the minister we have today: Thomas Bodström. Here are some of the highlights
Dagens Nyheter 22 December 2005.

Phone tapping – Secret surveillance with hidden microphones will be permissable for a long list of crimes (not only the present day murder, manslaughter and armed robbery. This is despite the fact that investigators have been unable to show whether these devices are efficient police tools.

Data retention – Sweden has stood on the forefront demanding that the EU implement data retention. The EU have now approved rules (BBC report) that will force ISP’s and other telecommunication companies to retain data for at least six months. This data includes the time, date and locations of both mobile and landline calls (as well as whether or not they were answered) along with logs of internet activity and email.

Hemlig telefonavlyssning. En regeringsutredning vill ge Säkerhetspolisen utökade möjligheter till hemlig teleavlyssning. Den ska ske även i “preventivt syfte”, alltsÃ¥ innan ett brott har begÃ¥tts. Enligt förslaget ska ocksÃ¥ den öppna polisen ges utökade möjligheter att registrera svenskarnas telefonsamtal, vilket Advokatsamfundets generalsekreterare Anne Ramberg kallar för “ett paradigmskifte i svensk tvÃ¥ngsmedelshantering”.

Den påtänkta lagstiftningen ger staten kraftigt utökade möjligheter att övervaka medborgarna. Tillämpningsområdet är ytterst brett och möjligheterna till ett rättssäkert förfarande minimala. Både Säpo och polisen skulle ges laglig rätt att kontinuerligt avlyssna miljöer som de finner intressanta. Varken någon lag­överträdelse eller konkret misstanke krävs.

Försvarets underrättelseverksamhet. En departementspromemoria föreslår att den traditionella signalspaningen ska utvidgas till att omfatta all trådbunden trafik som passerar Sveriges gränser. Försvaret ska alltså inte som i dag bara kunna övervaka etern, utan också telefonsamtal, e-post, fax och dylikt som strömmar genom landet naturligtvis utan domstolsprövning. Förslaget innebär ett genombrott för övervakningsstaten, särskilt om det kombineras med tankarna på att försvaret även ska hantera vissa polisiära uppgifter.

Secret Data Surveillance – A proposal has been put forward that will allow the police (with a court order) can enter and insert software to eavesdrop on individuals computers.

These are just a few of the ideas which have been pushed through on the ministers initiative or suggestion. There are many more examples of tough stances against civil liberties – all done to fight crime or terrorism.

handcuffs

Sweden is no longer the country fighting for rights and liberties but it is using the ghost of terrorism to frighten and bully through oppressive legislation. Leadership by fear. In addition to this the approach has been to argue that oppressive legislation actually improves civil liberties. In a comment on the recent data retention decision a fellow party official stated that data retention protects civil liberties. Swedish quote here – “Jag är tacksam och glad att vi fÃ¥r en gemensam lagstiftning för hela Europa. Det här är ocksÃ¥ garantin för att integriteten och de mänskliga rättigheterna inte Ã¥sidosätts, säger Inger Segelström, s”.

This is straight out of Orwell! Remember: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”. Big Brother would have been proud.

Posted on by mklang

Minister of (in)Justice: Bodström

The Swedish Minister of Justice seemed like a nice man. However, he quickly showed that he was not going to worry too much about civil liberties when it came to legislation. Since becoming minister he has systematically been implementing harsher legislation which threatens civil liberties. When the harsher copyright regime was implemented and concerns were raised about the number of young people breaking the law he attempted to calm the fears of the Swedes by saying that the law would not be used against them.

When asked how one should protect ones privacy from overzealeous police investigations, he told the reporter that the best protection was to commit no crime.

Recently when discussing the new legislation to use telephone surveillance and house searches against people who are not suspected of crimes he stated that the reason was that in practice this already happened and therefore it was better that the law followed practice. In other words if the police do not respect the law then it is better to change the law to follow the police practice.

This is taken from Dagens Nyheter 18 October 2005

Thomas Bodströms uttalande i Ekot pÃ¥ tisdagen är märkligt för att komma frÃ¥n en justitieminister. I en kommentar till regeringens planer pÃ¥ att lÃ¥ta polisen använda tvÃ¥ngsmedel som telefonavlyssning och husrannsakan mot personer som inte är misstänka för nÃ¥got begÃ¥nget brott svarade han: “Ja, det är en ny rättsprincip i lagen, dock inte mot hur det har fungerat i praktiken”.

Med andra ord: eftersom det funnits poliser som inte respekterat lagen är det inte en så stor sak att regeringen vill överge den princip som lagen vilat på.

Han hade kunnat hävda att vÃ¥rt samhälle tidigare levt med en dubbelmoral där en sak sagts offentligt och Säkerhetspolisen i praktiken gjort nÃ¥got annat. Han hade kunnat säga att världen vi nu lever i är sÃ¥ farlig att vi mÃ¥ste offra vissa principer. Det hade varit diskutabelt – men Ã¥tminstone ärligt. Att som nu försöka förminska principfrÃ¥gan inger däremot ingen respekt.

DN – Ledare – En justitieminister utan principer

Posted on by mklang

New Swedish NGO

The new Swedish NGO has now established its first web presence. http://www.libre.se/.

The “Association for free culture and software” (Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara) is called Libre for short and will be active in four areas Infrastructure, Culture, Access & Digital Rights. Since the main focus of the NGO is to bring a major part of an international discussion into the Swedish domain the site is in Swedish.

Posted on by mklang

Privacy, GPS & Children

After taking a short look at some of the products available on the market (and it is a growing market, I did a similar small survey about a year ago) it is obvious that GPS surveillance of children (but obviously not only children) is only going to grow. Privacy & childrens rights be damned this fear of the terrible has led to “paranoid parenting” (Furedi 2001).

Here are some of the products and services available for parents and other amateur Big Brothers:

ULocate http://www.ulocate.com/
uLocate Communications is a leading provider of wireless location-based services (LBS) that leverage an individual’s location to deliver customized, actionable information:
â?¢ last known locations
â?¢ maps
â?¢ directions
â?¢ location-based alerts
â?¢ proximity-based points of interest

Wherify Wireless http://www.wherifywireless.com/
The GPS Wheriphone: Through the convergence of Global Positioning System (GPS) and digital wireless technology – along with Wherify’s patented location technologies – the GPS Locator Phone offers parents, family members and business people peace of mind knowing they can locate loved ones or valuable property, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The slim, small and lightweight GPS Locator Phone can fit almost anywhereâ?¦from a backpack to a purse to a coat pocket to the family car.

Teen Arrive Alive http://www.teenarrivealive.com/
Features of the Teen Arrive Alive GPS service:
â?¢ Locations are updated every 2minutes.
â?¢ 7 days of location history is available.
â?¢ Location data can be downloaded to your computer.
â?¢ Our service provides physical address, speed, and heading for each location with a corresponding data point plotted on a map. See the route your teen has taken each day.
â?¢ Our patent-pending locator hotline allows parents to locate their teen anytime, from anywhere in the world from any phone.
â?¢ Location data is available in real time, 24 hours a day, everyday.
â?¢ You have unlimited access to location information with no additional fees or charges.
â?¢ Our service is as mobile as your teen. We locate the phone, not the car.
â?¢ The java application on the phone allows the teen to get their physical address and a corresponding street map directly on the phone – useful if they get lost.
â?¢ Choose from 5 different reports to analyze travel data.

DriveDiagnostics http://www.drivediagnostics.com/
Parents can receive:
â?¢ Recieve real time warnings when their child drives aggressively or dangerously.
â?¢ Be informed of specific and recurring aggressive and dangerous maneuvers performed by their teenager.
â?¢ Recieve real time warning messages to the parent via mail, SMS or phone call
â?¢ Gain access to driver profile, guidance and advise as to how to improve the teens driving
http://www.drivediagnostics.com/site/industry.asp?subMenu=teen

GPS Kid Locator Tracker Backpack http://www.spyshops.ca/trackerbackpack.htm
â?¢ Safety: The hours before and after school is in session are when parents worry most about their childâ??s safety. The GPS Kid Locator Tracker Backpack gives them an easy way to pinpoint their childâ??s location at any time.
â?¢ Convenience: The rechargeable battery operates for up to one week between battery recharges. Without having to remove the battery pack from the backpack, simply plug it into any outlet to recharge.
â?¢ Emergency Help: The GPS Kid Locator Tracker Backpack features an emergency call button that can be used to summon help or directly alert a parent to a childâ??s specific location. The child could also use the emergency call button to alert a parent should he or she become lost.
â?¢ GeoFence: Parents can easily construct a GeoFence online using the patented LOBOâ?¢ mapping software. A GeoFence is a defined are in which a parent can be alerted if the child is not inside the area or goes beyond a predefined area.
â?¢ Easy to Use: The GPS Kid Locator Tracker Backpack is self-contained and ready to use. Programming is done remotely online anytime anywhere. Our secure web site transmits programming instructions to the unit implementing them immediately.

Sentinel Watch (30 June 2004) – This may turn out to be vaporware since I have been unable to find updated information.
CPS and Xion collaborate on development of GSM based communications and security device
The new Sentinel Watch is based on a tri-band GSM engine and consistently delivers 100m accuracy in urban, suburban and rural areas. In addition the Watch can be tracked and located indoors and metal framed buildings. The watch also offers:
â?¢ parent/child communication via SMS/MMS
â?¢ a warning for parents if the child moves outside a designated or defined area
â?¢ a panic button which sends an immediate alert message to the parent
â?¢ security clasp and security strap the alert the parent when the watch is removed without authorisation
â?¢ gaming facilities
http://www.cursor-system.com/cps/news_detail.asp?ID=119

and finally the silliest of the lot…
SmartWear Technologies plans to launch a line of pajamas embedded with RFID tags (http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=165701942).

Posted on by mklang

Disney Parks Scan fingerprints

Tourists visiting Disney theme parks in Central Florida must now provide their index and middle fingers to be scanned before entering the front gates.

Local 6 News

The next step will be theme parks gathering DNA from customers? With millions of visitors every year this could be a valuable source of income…

Posted on by mklang