Sweden's Wiretapping Law Heads to the European Court of Human Rights

Sweden's wiretapping controversy is headed to the European Court of Human Rights. Sweden's Centrum för Rättvisa, an independent law organization, is filing a complaint, demanding that the European court examine whether FRA-lagen, Sweden's new surveillance law, violates privacy rights guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights and address concerns that it does not hold government authorities accountable for wiretapping abuses. The law, which will allow all Internet and phone traffic crossing Swedish borders to be monitored by the FRA (Sweden's National Defense Radio Establishment) without a warrant, approved by Swedish Parliament on June 18th, is set to take effect on January 1st.

CRM tells the online newspaper The Local that the eavesdropping law is too vague and that the court must decide where limits should be set between the need for national security and the right to privacy.