[pp.int.general] Swedish NSA to wiretap all phone network, Internet

[Rick Falkvinge (Piratpartiet)]

> If the bill really requires *routine* wiretapping of all telephone and 
> Internet communications, that is indeed outrageous. Wouldn't it be possible 
> to estimate the amout of data to be saved e.g. from figures of internet 
> exchange points. I guess even with todays storage technology huge "disk 
> farms" (or the like) will be required.
This is actually one of the proponent's main arguments: "we're not going 
to eavesdrop on everything! the storage required would be enormous! 
we're just going to intrude into privacy where any of the communications 
matches our criteria!".

This is an intentional sidetracking. The eavesdropping will not happen 
by storing all the data, but eavesdropping on it in real time. And yes, 
that requires a lot of computing power. It's no coincidence that this 
particular security agency in a relatively small country has the fifth 
most powerful computer IN THE WORLD -- right up along there with nuclear 
physics research labs is the Swedish FRA.

http://www.top500.org/lists/2007/11 (the list only says "government 
agency", but they've confirmed it's them)

Any communication that matches a set of about 250,000 criteria will be 
saved for later analysis.

However, the intrusion into privacy doesn't happen when some 
communication is saved for closer inspection -- it happens at the time 
when the government starts eavesdropping, screening and filtering in the 
first place.