FRA law

The FRA law (FRA- lay in Swedish ) is a Swedish legislative package, which empowers the State, all telephone and listen not subject to judicial Internet connections that cross the Swedish border. It was adopted on 18 June 2008 with a vote of 143 to 138 by the Swedish Parliament, wherein contained a deputy and 67 other deputies were not present. The Act came into force on 1 January 2009.

More specifically, " FRA law ", the usual name for the new law, as well as various changes to existing laws, formally referred to as " bill 2006/ 07: 63 - A custom military intelligence service " ( in Swedish: proposition 2006/ 07: 63 - En Anpassad försvarsunderrättelseverksamhet ). It was introduced as an anti- terror law and gives the authority Försvarets radio Institution ( FRA ) the right of the implementation of Signals Intelligence on all Internet nodes, the traffic directed through Swedish borders, though experts argue that it is impossible to distinguish between international and national traffic indistinguishable.

News from the Swedish state television and other sources report that the FRA in reality a decade performs eavesdropping against Swedish citizens. According to the Försvarets radio Institution Director General Ingvar Åkesson, the authority destroy the data collected after 18 months, but she confirmed that they are indeed not only information of foreigners, but also from Sweden collected, like finding of Swedish search terms, applied to the collected data, suspect leave.

Protest and criticism

The law met with protests and opposition in the entire Swedish political landscape, where even the youth organizations of the parties in the ruling coalition against the law were. Virtually all major newspapers were against the law, as well as lobby organizations such as the Swedish Journalists' Union and the Swedish Bar Association. Telecommunications and Internet companies such as Google, Bahnhof AB and TeliaSonera took a critical stance against the law. In addition, concerns have been raised that the law could prevent foreign investment in Sweden. It could possibly lead to a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights. There were held protests and demonstrations in the capital Stockholm and other major cities on a regular basis.

On 8 August 2008 reported the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that according to recent surveys, 51 % of Swedes against the law, compared to 47 % in June 2008. Moreover, the newspaper stated, the confidence in Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt could be in danger.