Religion No Longer Sacred!
The FRA, Swedish National Defense Radio Establishment, that recently was approved to start their extended surveillance activity targeting wire-based Internet traffic and traffic in the mobile networks, may intercept personal e-mails between local Danish vicars and Danish people in their search for a cure of the souls. How is this possible, you ask? The e-mail of the Danish church is handled via servers placed in Sweden, and FRA is allowed to intercept communications as they pass the Swedish border, according to the newly adopted FRA law. FRA may automatically search for certain "keywords" and there is the risk that individuals "confessions" to their local vicar may contain words that FRA scans for. It would not be the first time in history that law authorities have shown interest in accessing information of that nature, and the new situation may compromise the confidentiality expected from the clergy and their communication with individuals. This is only one example of how the newly adopted FRA law and other types of web-based surveillance can affect both individuals and professionals that in some manner work and/or live their lives in the global networks. This new situation also poses a challenge to the Nordic Internet Service Providers that must consider how to protect individuals privacy when the services they provide take routes that exceed national borders in the "borderless" global information society, leading to a situation where the traffic may be intercepted by FRA. Who would like to have their most personal thoughts archived by the Swedish Defense Intelligence?