Nokia pushes spying law in Finland, threatens to leave the country if it’s not approved

Ilinca Nita  By on 02 Feb 09

Obviously concerned about secrets that may easily fly off its facilities and R&D centers, Nokia wants to monitor its employees’ email in Finland.

In order to do that, it needs the approval of a law referred to as “Lex Nokia”. But since spying on people’s email is not exactly a constitutional thing to do, the Finnish Parliament might never approve the law.

Well, according to IDG.se, now Nokia is determined to “leave” Finland if it doesn’t obtain what it wants. This means that the country could lose about 16,000 jobs, as well as around 1.3 billion Euros (per year) in tax revenue.

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In the next few weeks, the Parliament of Finland should take a final decision regarding the matter. If this won’t be favorable to Nokia, we could witness some pretty unusual moves from the giant handset manufacturer.

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  • Mark Squires

    There has been significant discussion within the media about a Finnish government-backed bill that proposes an amendment to the Act on Data Protection of Electronic Communications.

    Much of the reporting on this issue, starting with an article in the Sunday edition of the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, has been inaccurate and misleading.

    As communicated by the wider Finnish business community, including the Confederation of Finnish Industries (http://www.ek.fi), the proposed legislation would offer clarity for Finnish business in the event that trade secrets are suspected to have been leaked. As a member of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, Nokia supports this proposed change in the law.

    According to the proposed legislation, only in very exceptional circumstances, and only in accordance with stringent procedures, would it be possible for a company to consult email log data. Such data would reveal the sender and recipient’s names, but NOT the content of the email. Nokia stresses that it upholds the highest standards with regard to employees’ rights for privacy and other fundamental rights and has every intention to maintain such high standards in the future.

    Nokia is astonished about the recent reporting on this issue and categorically denies making a threat to leave Finland, as claimed by the flawed Helsingin Sanomat article. That Nokia continues to have a significant presence in Finland is determined by business-related factors and is not influenced in the least by the proposed legislation discussed by the article.

  • Mark Squires

    There has been significant discussion within the media about a Finnish government-backed bill that proposes an amendment to the Act on Data Protection of Electronic Communications.

    Much of the reporting on this issue, starting with an article in the Sunday edition of the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, has been inaccurate and misleading.

    As communicated by the wider Finnish business community, including the Confederation of Finnish Industries (http://www.ek.fi), the proposed legislation would offer clarity for Finnish business in the event that trade secrets are suspected to have been leaked. As a member of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, Nokia supports this proposed change in the law.

    According to the proposed legislation, only in very exceptional circumstances, and only in accordance with stringent procedures, would it be possible for a company to consult email log data. Such data would reveal the sender and recipient’s names, but NOT the content of the email. Nokia stresses that it upholds the highest standards with regard to employees’ rights for privacy and other fundamental rights and has every intention to maintain such high standards in the future.

    Nokia is astonished about the recent reporting on this issue and categorically denies making a threat to leave Finland, as claimed by the flawed Helsingin Sanomat article. That Nokia continues to have a significant presence in Finland is determined by business-related factors and is not influenced in the least by the proposed legislation discussed by the article.

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