SWEDISH DATA-PROTECTION OFFICE AGAINST ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE OF CRIMINALS
Datainspektionen , the Swedish office for data-protection (DI) has expressed strong criticism against the government's decision to introduce electronic surveillance of criminals on a test base (see FECL No.21, p.12) and warns of a "Big brother society".
In the opinion of DI's Director general, Anitha Bondestam, "this is the fisrt step towards controlling people in their home. Once the first step taken, it is difficult to return. And it is just as difficult not to go further if one fins some convenient reason to do so."
According to the government's plans, prison ward authorities can decide whether persons sentenced to not more than 2 months of imprisonment may serve their sentence in prison or at home with an "electronic leash" attached to a foot or an arm and eventually even with cameras placed in their appartments. The latter solution requires that the persons concerned have a home. There, they will be under a central computer's control round the clock. The computer is said to be capable of controlling whether a person under surveillance is respecting the ban on alcohol or not.
The main reason for the governments intention to introduce electronic surveillance as an alternative to imprisonment is likely to be a matter of economy.
Due to a general trend in Sweden towards higher more frequent prison sentences prisons are crowded. Electronic surveillance is cheaper than building new prisons. But DI argues fears that, by introducing electronic surveillance, the legislator will take a step towards undermining the general respect for every persons right to a protected and private sphere - at least at home.
DI further points out that it is not only the sentenced person's integrity which is at a stake. Electronic surveillance devices can register everything happening in a surveillees home and thus affect family members and other third persons.
DI therefore demands that rights as fundamental as privacy and personal integrity should not be sacrified to efficiency and economy.
Sources: Dagens Nyheter, 19.1.94; our sources.