If you care about your online privacy then you’ve likely already heard of countries where the state likes to know every online step of their citizens and take restrictive actions further, like banning particular foreign services. Because this imposes a limit on the online freedom of their citizens, people turn to circumventing tools like proxies or VPNs. But then, restrictive regimes strike back once again by blocking VPNs too, serving as an example to other countries, even those who are known for supporting free speech and online freedom. And that’s precisely what might happen in Sweden as the country is looking to adopt new measures to tighten the grip on data retention and VPNs.
This is quite an unexpected move from a country known for its freedom and liberal values. The center of the situation comes from leaked proposals by the Swedish ISP Bahnhof, in which it is stated that the Swedish government is looking to extend data retention time up to ten months. This represents a four month increase in the time that ISPs must already obey by when keeping records of the online activities of its users.
In addition to this VPN users also suffer from these new leaked measures that the government is planning, as the Bahnhof report states that ISPs will start logging the “first activation of anonymization services”, a fancy way to say that these companies will now know who uses VPNs and when they use it. Though users can still keep their online traffic away from snoopers under VPN protection, since records will be kept of clients turning this protection on the ISPs will know exactly who uses the software. And as a consequence, one of the strongest pillars of these services will be partially destroyed: anonymity.
Likewise, IP address sharing is also targeted in the new regulations. As a last resort, this would ultimately mean that law enforcement agencies would be able to link any online activity to a specific user, which would be another attack on the online freedom of Swedish citizens.
The Bahnhof leaks come at a time when the world is more and more concerned over online privacy. And considering all the different countries approving new restrictive measures to fight online freedom, is it foolish to think how a liberal country like Sweden should be an example for other European nations?
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Just goes to show how much people in politics lie to the world. When a country says that they support freedom and privacy, then make laws rules and regulations that do exactly the opposite. We need to have security and privacy, as those things are what can only protect the power grids, and many other vital things in countries. Also there are crimes that need to be really looked into such as the FBI and other viruses, and ransomware. It is impossible for people to profit from such crimes without making themselves visible to law enforcement in at least one or more countries. All it takes is allowing law enforcement in one country to take responsibility for the crimes that they do in other countries, and I am reffering to crimes in the form of where people are harmed, not just a statutory crime that should always be treated as a lesser crime. Much the same as stealing food is a lesser crime than stealing someones ability to provide for themselves by stealing someones tools and ability to work. These are things that have been legislated from before our recorded history, and as evidenced in cuneiform between what is a minor crime and a major crime. Major crimes against people need to be more enforced than those against a legal fiction.