Every year, The Swedish Internet Foundation compiles the report "Swedes and the Internet" on a variety of issues. This year, among other things, 70 percent of Swedes think that camera surveillance with facial recognition should be allowed in public places to facilitate law enforcement.
This type of camera surveillance has been put forward by the government as recently as last week as part of the fight against gang violence. Those who are most positive to the surveillance are the elderly, while the younger age groups are more skeptical, especially younger men. But even among them, a majority believe that it should be allowed.
"There is a very large proportion of Swedes who are positive to camera surveillance, and it surprised me that there is such a strong majority," says Måns Jonasson, an expert at the Swedish Internet Foundation.
Many people want to let the police take part in private chats
Another question is whether the police should be allowed to take part in private online conversations. Here, 46 per cent give the police the green light if there is a suspicion of a crime and 48 per cent if there is a suspicion of serious crime.
Here, too, there are differences among the age ranges. Younger people are more likely to think that it should only be allowed to take part in private conversations if serious crimes are suspected. Among people born in the 00s, 9 percent believe that the police should not be allowed to take part in private conversations even if they suspect a crime.
"Here we see a clear generation gap. Young people live their entire lives online and have more to lose if someone can get into their personal conversations," says Måns Jonasson.