As of 1 January 2009, Sweden’s new anti-terrorism law will come into effect, allowing its intelligence services to read and listen to any correspondence in and out of Sweden. The law passed by the slimmest of margins in the Swedish parliament, and is now the subject of intense debate in the Nordic Council.

What’s at stake is the privacy of Denmark’s journalists. Read the full story

In a historic deal, the United States and Norway are set to sign an agreement to share the personal data of each other’s citizens. A similar deal has just been struck between the US and the EU, allowing for everything from personal web surfing information to mobile phone numbers and email addresses to be exchanged between the government bodies.

Leaders within Norway’s government, however, seem to want more assurances that the data will be Read the full story

Structured Consulting Sweden recently fired two employees after spying on their online conversations with software they had installed on the workers’ computers.

Tomas Hedin, who worked from home using a company owned computer, was dismissed after a conversation with a colleague about their employers. The husband and wife owners turned up at his home shortly after dismissing his colleague, and forced him to sign a dismissal agreement.

The management had used software from SpectorSoft to monitor their habits, having asked employees to install routine software updates which had the spying software installed.

Following a complaint to his union, Hedin had his dismissal withdrawn but he has since resigned over the incident in which the employer accused him of having a theoretical conversation on how to cheat them.

According to prosecutor Hakan Roswall, Structured Consulting was within its rights to install spyware on its own computers.

“As long as you own the computer you have the right to install spyware that keeps track of everything from bank transactions to web cameras,” he told Goteborgs-Posten.

However, Sweden’s data protection laws deem it illegal for employers to monitor workers without the staffmembers’ consent.

In order to keep Finland’s corporate secrets in the hands of Finnish corporations, the government recently approved amendments to the Data Protection Act. The changes are designed to prevent the escape of corporate secrets from Finland, according to reports by the Finish News Agency, STT.

Although the proposal was approved by the government, it must next be passed by Parliament. The changes would make it legal in certain situations for companies to examine emails sent by employees and the addresses to which they were sent. If passed, the changes could go into effect early next year.

The bill was prepared by Suvi Linden, Finland’s minister of communications. Linden feels that the measure is somewhat extreme but that it is necessary to protect local businesses from crucial losses.

Approximately 100 companies in Finland are expected to take advantage of the powers extended by the amended legislation if it is passed by Parliament.

Finland’s Data Protection Act came into effect in 1999. The Act entitles individuals to access and correct personal data held by both public and private organizations. Data protection is overseen and enforcement is carried out by the Data Protection Ombudsman.