It is with great dismay that the message reaches me that Denmark has abolished the right to secrecy of correspondence (the preceding link is in Swedish). These laws protect private citizens from having their private correspondence, such as letters or packages, opened or searched by anyone else, including the government, and it's a cornerstone of our liberties. In the United States, this is something covered by the Fourth Amendment. In Sweden, this is covered by our constitution.

Friends, this is a highly disturbing development, and I'd never thought it'd actually go this far, but it has. In Denmark, the Danish government now has the right to open and read anyone's private communications, anytime, anywhere. They make no excuses, in fact stating clearly that the purpose of the new law is to “enable violation of postal secrecy”. That phrase (in Danish) is repeated several times in the actual law.

What the law (Danish) does in essence is require that internet service providers, large and small, with the only exception of libraries and universities, to log all traffic—all traffic. Operators are required to man a 24 hour call service, in case the police wants to have a look at someone's once-private correspondence.

Try to see if you can wrap your heads around this: You can no longer be sure that no one has read your private correspondence before it reaches the intended recipient. You pretty much have to assume someone has, in fact. This is not a feature of a modern enlightened democracy. This is the kind of stuff you would expect in the former Soviet Union or East Germany, or modern-day North Korea. And you know it's not going to stop here—today, your emails are visible to any government agency that wants to read it; tomorrow, every aspect of your life will be. Give them a finger, and they will take your arm.

I urge everyone affected by this to find out what you can do. Support groups that want to protect your freedom of privacy. This is especially important to Danes, but also to the rest of Scandinavia and Europe. Swedes, please don't ignore this. Now that Denmark has paved the way for big brother, Sweden will be next unless you stand up and resist this as loudly as you can. Don't let them rip our freedoms apart, piece by piece.

For more information:

• Oscar Swartz — Vi sörjer Danmark - Bodströms första offer (Swedish)
• http://logningsdirektivet.dk/ (Danish)