MAROCCAN POLICE HAS ACCES TO PERSONAL DATA FROM THE SWEDISH POPULATION REGISTER
When the Swede Leif Forsgren went through the passport control at an airport in Morocco the border police took his passport and tipped in his name in the police computer. The answer appeared on the screen at once: "member of the police or armed forces". Whereupon the astonished tourist was meticulously questioned about his professional activities and the reason for his visit to Morocco.
The Moroccan police computer was right: Forsgren is indeed president of the police direction in his home town Mora.
Forsgren is still upset about what could have happened: "What would have happened to me if some incident had taken place in Morocco during my stay?"
Back home he demanded to know how his personal data had landed in the Moroccan police computer. The answer he finally got from the Swedish state's security police, the Säpo, is not of the kind to calm his anxiety. According to Säpo, several computerized personal data registers run by Swedish state administrations have found their way to foreign countries, smuggled out by men of straw who provided themselves with pirat copies. One of the registers, the "State's register of persons and adresses, SPAR, contains detailed information on the civil status, previous changes of the civil status, family members, taxed income, housing standard, among other things of every inhabitant of Sweden. When linked up with other registers of the public administration, there remain few secrets about the private and professional life of the Swedish people.
Sweden looks back on a long tradition of registering and statistically evaluating about every aspect of life of its citizens. And most of these registers are fairly accessible to everybody. Due to the average citizens' profound confidence in their public administration this Swedish version of glasnost (transparency) has never given rise to major protest.
And even Mr. Forsgrens recent adventure has not led to the scandal it would undoubtedly have created in any other European country.
Säpo sources dryly admit that foreign powers in Western Europe and the former communist countries as well as in South America are believed to dispose of the Swedish data registers. According to theses sources it is "highly unsatisfying" that personal data information held by the state is sold to about any substantial client. The public Swedish data inspection office views the news as "troubling". Which it is, indeed.
Source: "Dala Demokraten", 11.12.91