The Norwegian government has decided to allow the police intelligence agency PST to store all comments written on public platforms for five years and maybe more. Human rights advocates fear it will have a “chilling effect” on the public debate.

It overlooks the fundamental principles of privacy and lacks control mechanisms that would preserve our human rights in a satisfactory manner.

Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl counters that PST needs to monitor and store what’s written on public platforms (such as media comment fields and social media) in order to chart and uncover potential threats to Norwegian society.

“We face new and unknown threats that it’s important for PST to be able to pick up, for example development of violent climate extremism,” Mehl said at a press conference Friday. She’s also worried about hybrid warfare and other forms of extremism that can surface on debate platforms.

PST chief Hedvig Moe insists the new law doesn’t involve any massive surveillance: “We won’t be reading folks’ email or invade sites that are password-protected.”

https://www.newsinenglish.no/2022/12/02/pst-wins-right-to-store-what-norwegians-write-online/