Sweden Admits Tapping Citizens' Phones for Decades

paulraps writes "Sweden is close to implementing new surveillance legislation that will include the monitoring of emails, telephone calls and keyword searches using advanced pattern analysis. The objective is to detect 'threats such as terrorism, IT attacks or the spread of weapons of mass destruction' but the proposals have divided the country. In a misguided attempt to put people at ease, the government admitted that Sweden has been tapping its citizens' phones for decades anyway."

Snicker

[Anonymous Coward]

Guy : Honey, I think we should start seeing other people
Gal : I can't believe you are saying that, I thought our relationship was strong
Guy : I don't know why you're so upset, I've been seeing others for 10 years now, hasn't bothered you yet
Gal : You've been doing WHAT?!>
Guy : Oh, uh, I mean, well, did I say 10years, I meant .. SMACK

Re:Yes ... and?

[eck011219]

Why encrypt it? Everyone is speaking Swedish -- who can understand THAT anyway?

Yeah well...

[BWJones]

Yeah, well it's not like Sweden has a document like the US Constitution that prot....ect......s.... its um, citizens from....... Er..... Nevermind.

Revolution!

Re:Yes ... and?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?
See the løveli lakes
The wøndërful telephøne system
And mäni interesting furry animals

The US called

[HomelessInLaJolla]

The Centre Party leader claims that defence minister Mikael Odenberg's proposed legislation would merely codify practices that have already been in operation for decades

"Sweden has always listened in as a means of ensuring that we have had the information necessary to protect national security. I don't think that is a secret," said Olofsson at a press conference on Friday.

"All I know is that we do not currently have any surveillance on the cable network. For six decades we had a surveillance system with no regulation and absolutely no protection for private individuals. I think that is forgotten sometimes in this discussion," said Odenberg.

The US Federal Government called--it seems that Sweden is infringing on their patent for "Application of the Kansas City Shuffle to a Population of Citizens to Effect Domestic Surveillance Under the Auspices of Preventing Terrorism for the Purpose of Perpetuating Financial Debt"

Re:Yes ... and?

[c0d3h4x0r]

Everyone is speaking Swedish -- who can understand THAT anyway?

Chefs?

Re:Yes ... and?

[Anonymous Coward]

We apologize for the fault in the comments. Those responsible have been sacked.

Anonymous Møøse

They Are Afraid

[Perl-Pusher]

That's why they spy on them.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re: Slashdotted

[Anonymous Coward]

Sweden and Norway are neighbors? I thought they were the same state.

My apologies. I graduated from the American Public Education System.

Good thing I don't live there

[boyfaceddog]

In my country we have a constitution that protects our rights from invasion by the government. I could say wahtever I wanted to about President Bush and suffer no consequences at all.

I for one would never say anything bad about President Bush though, even though I know the FBI/CIA/Whaterver aren't listening to me. That would just be silly.

To make this easier to understand...

[Anonymous Coward]

poolreps vreetes "Svedee is cluse-a tu implementing noo soorfeeellunce-a legeesleshun thet veell incloode-a zee muneeturing ooff imeeels, telephune-a cells und keyvurd seerches useeng edfunced pettern unelysees. Zee oobjectife-a is tu detect 'threets sooch es terrureesm, IT ettecks oor zee spreed ooff veepuns ooff mess destroocshun' boot zee prupusels hefe-a deefided zee cuoontry. In a meesgooided ettempt tu poot peuple-a et iese-a, zee gufernment edmeetted thet Svedee hes beee teppeeng its ceetizens' phunes fur decedes unyvey."

Re:strange

[Hoi Polloi]

c/tabs/your hands/

Re:HAHA.. if i had mod points..

[Anonymous Coward]

granted this makes a good point about how pervasive misandry is in that the original poster automatically placed the male as the cheater

Are you saying that I hate myself? I guess I could have said "person1" and "person2", since had I switched the genders around then I could also be accused of being a misogynist (or maybe more correctly that my statement was misogynistic).

but you could have used a slightly more diplomatic way to draw attention to it

How about:

Gal : Honey, I think we should start seeing other people.
Guy : That's funny I was thinking the same thing.
Gal : Oh, you were?
Guy : Yeah, as a matter of fact I've been thinking about it for years now
Gal : You have?
Guy : Yup, I figured our relationship was strong enough to take it to the next level
Gal : Yeah, I guess
Guy : Glad you feel that way, by the way, what would you say to a threesoSMACK
Guy : Thought so