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Wednesday, July 30, 2025

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https://nordictimes.com/europe/swedish-government-backs-eu-mass-surveillance-directive/

Europe

Swedish government backs EU mass surveillance directive

Mass surveillance

Published 19 June 2024
– By Editorial Staff
The Ulf Kristersson government (2022).
5 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish governing parties are suddenly supporting the EU’s proposed mass surveillance project “Chat Control” – despite claiming in the run-up to the European elections to be highly critical of the proposal’s design and concerned about its potential consequences.

– This is completely unacceptable. This is about introducing mass surveillance of all European citizens, warns Niels Paarup-Petersen, a member of the Danish Centre Party.

“Chat Control” is perhaps the most criticized EU proposal in recent years, and in short, it would give authorities the right to monitor the conversations, chats, photos and videos of all EU citizens – without any suspicion of crime.

“Everyone would be guilty of a crime – until proven otherwise. The goal? To fight child pornography and grooming”, writes investigative journalist Emanuel Karlsten.

The European Parliament has already rejected large parts of the proposal after heavy criticism, he notes, while the Council of Ministers, which consists of representatives of all EU governments, has yet to take a public position for or against the proposal.

The storm of criticism against the totalitarian and privacy-invasive nature of Chat Control was so fierce that Belgium, the country holding the presidency of the Council of Ministers, came up with a “compromise proposal” to facilitate support for the mass surveillance directive. In essence, however, the Belgian “compromise” provides for almost as much mass surveillance as the original proposal.

“Messages should not be intercepted and decrypted as they are sent, but before they are sent. By scanning the content of the citizen’s phone before it is ready, so-called client-side scanning, the right to privacy of communications is respected. Citizens should also be informed that they are being scanned, and it should be voluntary for them to opt in. But in practice, it makes no difference: those who do not want to be scanned are simply prevented from sending pictures or videos. And scanning before encryption is in practice the same kind of surveillance”, Karlsten notes.

“In the past, all previous proposals met with a blocking minority in the Council of Ministers. On June 14, however, the last Council of Ministers of the Belgian Presidency took place. No decision was taken, but France opened the door to a positive attitude. This swing meant that there was no longer a blocking minority in the Council of Ministers. That a position could be adopted”, he continues.

Lied to their voters

Suddenly, after nine months of silence, the Swedish government and several parliamentary parties also decided to support the mass surveillance proposal, with Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (M) claiming that “important steps have been taken” to protect citizens’ privacy. Only the SD and C parties opposed the proposal in the justice committee.

“The government is therefore ready to take the next step and allow the Council and Parliament to start negotiations”, Strömmer said.

“The information was later confirmed and means that the Greens and the Left Party flipped on the issue. It also means that the Moderates and Liberals went to the polls criticizing chat control, but voted for the proposal anyway”, Karlsten writes.

Totalitarian mass surveillance

Oisin Cantwell of the tabloid Aftonbladet is among those who are highly critical of the proposal and warns of what it will mean for citizens in practice.

“Do you want to be able to send a little video from the beach in Greece to grandma in Borås? That’s possible even if the regulation becomes reality, but only if you have first authorized the state to scan some of your chats. Pictures, videos, links, the government wants to be able to see everything”, he writes, noting that it only took the governing parties a few weeks to renege on their election promises to oppose chat control.

“It’s not just pedophiles who can get caught on the net. Even if it’s a picture, a movie or a link, the law can have a wide impact. It could be a dissident in Orbán’s Hungary. A whistleblower who wants to alert the press to wrongdoing. A client who needs to communicate with his lawyer. It could be anyone who wants to have a private sphere where the state cannot reach”, he continues.

He also points out that no one yet knows what the “final product” will look like, but that “it seems that Europe will soon have surveillance that would make a dictator happy”.

“Worse than the Stasi”

The Centre Party opposes the proposal because it believes that “many people need access to encrypted communication services. For example, vulnerable people and democracy movements”, and the Swedish Union of Journalists (Svenska Journalistförbundet) has warned that the directive threatens the protection of sources.

– This is totally unacceptable. This is about introducing mass surveillance of all European citizens. It’s quite crazy, says Niels Paarup-Petersen (C), pointing out that the conservatives lied to their voters.

“In addition to requiring IT companies to monitor users in new ways, it also imposes new obligations on member states to review, seize, copy and obtain copies of data related to a suspected violation of the regulation. In addition to the privacy concerns raised by mass surveillance, it also raises questions about how information provided to journalists under source protection should be handled”, wrote Ulrika Hyllert, president of the Swedish Union of Journalists, and Erika Wiman Snäll, chair of the Union of Journalists’ Freedom of Expression Group (Journalistförbundets yttrandefrihetsgrupp).

Stefan Axelsson, a professor of digital forensics, goes further, saying that “not even the Stasi security police in East Germany had this level of surveillance”. Nor does he believe it will stop pedophiles.

– The pedophiles you really want to get at don’t communicate this way. They communicate on the Darknet and places like that.

– Any kind of encrypted communication is going to be impossible with this. Because this information is not protected, or can be protected, or is allowed to be protected, there is a 100% certainty that the world’s intelligence services will get it.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/tech/amazon-acquires-ai-company-that-records-everything-you-say/

Tech

Amazon acquires AI company that records everything you say

Mass surveillance

Published 27 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
3 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Tech giant Amazon has acquired the Swedish AI company Bee, which develops wearable devices that continuously record users’ conversations. The deal signals Amazon’s ambitions to expand within AI-driven hardware beyond its voice-controlled home assistants.

The acquisition was confirmed by Bee founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo in a LinkedIn post, while Amazon told tech site TechCrunch that the deal has not yet been completed. Bee employees have been offered positions within Amazon.

AI wristband that listens constantly

Bee, which raised €6.4 million in venture capital last year, manufactures both a standalone wristband similar to Fitbit and an Apple Watch app. The product costs €46 (approximately $50) plus a monthly subscription of €17 ($18).

The device records everything it hears – unless the user manually turns it off – with the goal of listening to conversations to create reminders and to-do lists. According to the company’s website, they want “everyone to have access to a personal, ambient intelligence that feels less like a tool and more like a trusted companion.”

Bee has previously expressed plans to create a “cloud phone” that mirrors the user’s phone and gives the device access to accounts and notifications, which would enable reminders about events or sending messages.

Competitors struggle in the market

Other companies like Rabbit and Humane AI have tried to create similar AI-driven wearable devices but so far without major success. However, Bee’s device is significantly more affordable than competitors’ – the Humane AI Pin cost €458 – making it more accessible to curious consumers who don’t want to make a large financial investment.

The acquisition marks Amazon’s interest in wearable AI devices, a different direction from the company’s voice-controlled home assistants like Echo speakers. Meanwhile, ChatGPT creator OpenAI is working on its own AI hardware, while Meta is integrating its AI into smart glasses and Apple is rumored to be working on the same thing.

Privacy concerns remain

Products that continuously record the environment carry significant security and privacy risks. Different companies have varying policies for how voice recordings are processed, stored, and used for AI training.

In its current privacy policy, Bee says users can delete their data at any time and that audio recordings are not saved, stored, or used for AI training. However, the app does store data that the AI learns about the user, which is necessary for the assistant function.

Bee has previously indicated plans to only record voices from people who have verbally given consent. The company is also working on a feature that lets users define boundaries – both based on topic and location – that automatically pause the device’s learning. They also plan to build AI processing directly into the device, which generally involves fewer privacy risks than cloud-based data processing.

However, it’s unclear whether these policies will change when Bee is integrated into Amazon. Amazon has previously had mixed results when it comes to handling user data from customers’ devices.

The company has shared video clips with law enforcement from people’s Ring security cameras without the owner’s consent or court order. Ring also reached a settlement in 2023 with the Federal Trade Commission after allegations that employees and contractors had broad and unrestricted access to customers’ video recordings.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/tech/now-youre-forced-to-pay-for-facebook-or-be-tracked-by-meta/

Tech

Now you’re forced to pay for Facebook or be tracked by Meta

Mass surveillance

Published 22 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Social media giant Meta is now implementing its criticized “pay or be tracked” model for Swedish users. Starting Thursday, Facebook users in Sweden and some other EU-countries are forced to choose between paying €7 per month for an ad-free experience or accepting extensive data collection. Meanwhile, the company faces daily fines from the EU if the model isn’t changed.

Swedish Facebook users have been greeted since Thursday morning with a new choice when logging into the platform. A message informs them that “you must make a choice to use Facebook” and explains that users “have a legal right to choose whether you want to consent to us processing your personal data to show you ads.”

Screenshot from Facebook.

The choice is between two alternatives: either pay €7 monthly for an ad-free Facebook account where personal data isn’t processed for advertising, or consent to Meta collecting and using personal data for targeted ads.

As a third alternative, “less personalized ads” is offered, which means Meta uses somewhat less personal data for advertising purposes.

Screenshot from Facebook.

Background in EU legislation

The introduction of the payment model comes after the European Commission in March launched investigations of Meta along with Apple and Google for suspected violations of the DMA (Digital Markets Act). For Meta’s part, the investigation specifically concerns the new payment model.

In April, Meta was fined under DMA legislation and ordered to pay €200 million in fines because the payment model was not considered to meet legal requirements. Meta has appealed the decision.

According to reports from Reuters at the end of June, the social media giant now risks daily penalties if the company doesn’t make necessary changes to its payment model to comply with EU regulations.

The new model represents Meta’s attempt to adapt to stricter European data legislation while the company tries to maintain its advertising revenue through the alternative payment route.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/rfk-jr-wants-health-trackers-on-every-american-within-four-years/

World

RFK Jr wants health trackers on every American within four years

Mass surveillance

Published 26 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda", Kennedy claims.
3 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has presented a plan for all Americans to wear body-monitoring technology that tracks their health in real time.

The measure is described as a crucial part of the national initiative MAHA – Make America Healthy Again – which aims to reverse America’s widespread public health crisis using modern technology.

During a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday, Kennedy revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will launch one of its most extensive campaigns ever – to get Americans to wear so-called wearables, body-worn technology that collects health data around the clock.

– We’re about to launch the biggest advertising campaign in HHS history to encourage Americans to use wearables, Kennedy said.

Products mentioned in the initiative include FitBit, Oura Ring, and Apple Watch – popular devices that can measure heart rate, movement, sleep, and in some cases even blood glucose.

– It’s a way people can take control over their own health. They can take responsibility. They can see, as you know, what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates, and a number of other metrics, as they eat it, he explained in a statement also published on the X platform.

“Key to the MAHA agenda”

Kennedy emphasized that he sees the technology as a crucial part of his vision:

– We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda of making America healthy again and my vision is that every American is wearing a wearable in four years.

The Secretary, who belongs to the influential Kennedy family, often emphasizes individual responsibility for health but also links the issue to national security. During his Senate hearing, he described America’s obesity epidemic – which now affects about 40 percent of the population – as a threat to military readiness.

“Reduce global metabolic suffering”

One of the leading advocates for this type of technology is also President Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means. She is co-founder of Levels, a company that develops and sells Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM) – sensors attached directly to the skin that send blood glucose values to an app in real time.

Means claims in a blog post that “these small plastic discs” can “reduce global metabolic suffering” and provide much-needed help to the “93.2 percent of people” suffering from metabolic issues.

The food industry is also affected by MAHA. Kennedy recently revealed that Starbucks will make changes to its menu in line with the agenda – even though the company already avoids several common additives such as artificial colors, flavors, and high-fructose corn syrup.

Earlier this year, Kennedy implemented a ban on artificial colors in U.S. food production – one of his first major interventions as Secretary. Critics have questioned both methods and priorities in the MAHA policy, but Kennedy sees it as a first step toward a healthier and more responsible nation.

Concerns about mass surveillance

The use of wearable health technology has raised questions about users’ right to privacy. Most health trackers collect large amounts of sensitive information – including heart rate, sleep patterns, movement, and blood glucose levels – stored in apps connected to companies.

Critics argue that there is a lack of clear transparency in how this data is used, shared, or sold, and that state-encouraged collection of health data risks blurring the line between voluntary health monitoring and systematic surveillance.

While Kennedy emphasizes voluntariness, some analysts warn that large-scale campaigns and technology adaptations by major companies may create indirect pressure to participate.

As more institutions – such as employers, schools, or businesses – adapt to health tracking, there is a risk that those who opt out may be seen as deviant, receive worse conditions, or be excluded from parts of society.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/tech/ai-surveillance-in-swedish-workplaces-sparks-outrage/

Tech

AI surveillance in Swedish workplaces sparks outrage

Mass surveillance

Published 4 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
In practice, it is possible to analyze not only employees' productivity - but also their facial expressions, voices and emotions.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has not only brought advantages – it has also created new opportunities for mass surveillance, both in society at large and in the workplace.

Even today, unscrupulous employers use AI to monitor and map every second of their employees’ working day in real time – a development that former Social Democratic politician Kari Parman warns against and calls for decisive action to combat.

In an opinion piece in the Stampen-owned newspaper GP, he argues that AI-based surveillance of employees poses a threat to staff privacy and calls on the trade union movement to take action against this development.

Parman paints a bleak picture of how AI is used to monitor employees in Swedish workplaces, where technology analyzes everything from voices and facial expressions to productivity and movement patterns – often without the employees’ knowledge or consent.

“It’s a totalitarian control system – in capitalist packaging”, he writes, continuing:

“There is something deeply disturbing about the idea that algorithms will analyze our voices, our facial expressions, our productivity – second by second – while we work”.

“It’s about power and control”

According to Parman, there is a significant risk that people in digital capitalism will be reduced to mere data points, giving employers disproportionate power over their employees.

He sees AI surveillance as more than just a technical issue and warns that this development undermines the Swedish model, which is based on balance and respect between employers and employees.

“It’s about power. About control. About squeezing every last ounce of ‘efficiency’ out of people as if we were batteries”.

If trade unions fail to act, Parman believes, they risk becoming irrelevant in a working life where algorithms are taking over more and more of the decision-making.

To stop this trend, he lists several concrete demands. He wants to see a ban on AI-based individual surveillance in the workplace and urges unions to introduce conditions in collective agreements to review and approve new technology.

Kari Parman previously represented the Social Democrats in Gnosjö. Photo: Kari Parman/FB

“Reduced to an algorithm’s margin of error”

He also calls for training for safety representatives and members, as well as political regulations from the state.

“No algorithm should have the right to analyze our performance, movements, or feelings”, he declares.

Parman emphasizes that AI surveillance not only threatens privacy but also creates a “psychological iron cage” where employees constantly feel watched, blurring the line between work and private life.

At the end of the article, the Social Democrat calls on the trade union movement to take responsibility and lead the resistance against the misuse of AI in the workplace.

He sees it as a crucial issue for the future of working life and human dignity at work.

“If we don’t stand up now, we will be alone when it is our turn to be reduced to an algorithm’s margin of error”, he concludes.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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