Swedish Surveillance Law Targets Russia

(Stockholm, Sweden) A new surveillance law will allow the Swedes to keep track of what the Russians are doing. Reportedly, that's the intent. Trust but verify.

Sweden's new surveillance law will enable the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) to scan massive quantities of Russian computer and telecom data, Svenska Dagbladet reports.

Information gleaned by the signal intelligence agency can then be used as currency when trading data with other western countries.

Despite the headaches the bill has caused since entering parliament in 2007, the government has never revealed the true purpose of the law, SvD writes.

Several sources close to the Swedish intelligence community told the newspaper that the controversial new eavesdropping law was primarily intended to keep track of Russian communications.

"Our geographical position means that 80 percent of Russia's contacts with large parts of the world travel through cables in Sweden. That is the core of the issue," said one source.

"The most important reason for the law is that the government, the Armed Forces and other agencies need intelligence about Russia."

The Swedish-Finnish telecom giant TeliaSonera is pondering ways to bypass Sweden. Unfortunately, other nations, including Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, have similar surveillance laws.