Statlig vervakning av internet – den svenska riksdagsdebatten och en framtida roll f r Biblioteks- och Informationsvetenskapen

This article deals with the issue of state surveillance of the Internet and other new information and communication technologies, based on a discourse analysis of the debate in the Swedish Parliament 1994-2007. The paper is divided in three parts. In the first section, we discuss the main findings of the empirical study along with some methodological issues. We then, in the second part, continue the discussion on a more theoretical basis, relating to Foucault′swritings on Panopticon and power. Here we also discuss state surveillance in relation to political theories on liberalism and neo-liberalism. In the final section, we then position the discussion of state surveillance in relation to the library and LIS. Here we argue for a possible future role of libraries as active participants in, and facilitators of, a healthy debate on privacy issues, and for the importance of extensive research on state surveillance and privacy within LIS.