Professor Olav Lysne presents report on the digital flow of information into and out of Norway
Published:
The Ministry of Defense established an independent committee in February with the objective of evaluating main issues concerning the collection of information from the digital traffic in and out of Norway. Professor Olav Lysne, as head of the committee, presented the report Monday September 5th.
Olav Lysne presentedthe report to the press and deliveredit in its entirety to Minister of DefenseIne Eriksen Søreide on Monday this week.An independent evaluation was requested as the Norwegian Government wishes toadapt to the quick advancements in globalcommunication technologies. More than 95 percentof the communications traffic in Norwayis presently transmitted over high speed fiber connections, as opposed to the radio- and satellite signals that were in use not long ago. The committee has evaluated whether Norwegian Intelligence can access the information that is conveyed in the fiberoptic network in the same way that satellite and radio communications are presently accessible.
The comittee tookmatters of privacy and personal freedom into consideration in their evaluation, concluding that obtaining access to the fiber network is appropriate for Norwegian Intelligencedue tothe nature of theirsocial responsibility, but only under careful scrutiny. The access is deemed acceptable due to the escalation of digital threats againstNorway and Norwegian interests, and the fact that the monitoring of the fiber optic network replaces the monitoring of older modes of technology. Due to the possibility of picking up sensitive information, the report underlines that this kind of defense mechanism should only be installed with strict control mechanisms in placeof both technical and human nature.
The committee members wereprofessor Olav Lysne (head), attourneyChristian Reusch, attourneyEva Jarbekk, department directorEinar Lunde andrear admiral Trond Grytting (retired). The report is publicly available in Norwegian.