In article <Pine.HPP.3.91.951105123707.4854A-100000@cor.sos.sll.se>, Mats Bergstrom <asgaard@sos.sll.se> wrote:
This applies very much so in Sweden too. It *is* illegal to maintain any database with 'information on persons' (like their email addresses) without approval from the Data Inspection. But it's an open secret that this law is broken on a massive front and no bureaucrat is really trying to uphold it.
This is the worst possible situation, because it equates to a licence to harass for the police. If you obey the law, then you are at a disadvantage compared to people who are not bound by it because they are ignoring it, and who can because they are doing government-friendly things; but if you break the law, then you can be prosecuted. -- Shields.