No pledges from Sweden on email snooping
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Published: 4 Dec, 2013 CET.
Updated: Wed 4 Dec 2013 13:15 CET
Norway has received no assurances from Sweden that it will not monitor and record the country's phone and internet traffic, despite a high-level meeting on Tuesday.
Norway's transport minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen on Tuesday met Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, Sweden's minister for infrastructure, partly to air concerns raised by documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former contractor to the US's National Security Agency. "I expressed my concerns to the Swedish Minister. We do not like the idea that Sweden's defence authorities bug Norwegian data traffic," Solvik-Olsen told state broadcaster NRK. But he said that he had received no pledge to end any monitoring activity. "We should be cautious about making demands of other countries," Solvik-Olsen explained. "When things go too fast, you hit deadlocks. The important thing is to find practical solutions that support Norwegian needs better than today." In 2008, Sweden brought in the FRA law, which gave the Swedish armed forces full access to Norwegian communications crossing the border into Sweden. As almost all Norwegian internet traffic is routed through Sweden, this allows them to monitor almost all emails and web searches. In 2012, Sweden's intelligence agency SAPO, and the Swedish police's National Criminal Investigation Service were also given access.
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Norway's transport minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen on Tuesday met Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, Sweden's minister for infrastructure, partly to air concerns raised by documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former contractor to the US's National Security Agency.
"I expressed my concerns to the Swedish Minister. We do not like the idea that Sweden's defence authorities bug Norwegian data traffic," Solvik-Olsen told state broadcaster NRK.
But he said that he had received no pledge to end any monitoring activity.
"We should be cautious about making demands of other countries," Solvik-Olsen explained. "When things go too fast, you hit deadlocks. The important thing is to find practical solutions that support Norwegian needs better than today."
In 2008, Sweden brought in the FRA law, which gave the Swedish armed forces full access to Norwegian communications crossing the border into Sweden.
As almost all Norwegian internet traffic is routed through Sweden, this allows them to monitor almost all emails and web searches.
In 2012, Sweden's intelligence agency SAPO, and the Swedish police's National Criminal Investigation Service were also given access.
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