Yesterday the internet was ridiculously slow for me. Loading pages on dA took 5-10 minutes if they would load at all. Loading from Photobucket could take half an hour for one single 200kB picture. Since my online friends didn't seem to have any issues, I tried looking at Slashdot to see if they knew of any transatlantic connections being damaged - after trying to reach their website for 20 minutes I finally managed to see that they had no such news. dAmn kept timing out and I got immensely aggravated.

This morning I couldn't load dA whatsoever. As if the website didn't exist. And all this, while Swedish websites work perfectly. I checked my ISP's website and they've announced that traffic abroad may be experiencing difficulties and that they're working to solve the problem. Bullshit.

What really happened is that the government has now installed the necessary hardware to monitor and store all data transferred in and out of this country. I haven't read this anywhere, but I'm sure that's the case. The bill was supposed to be in effect as of January 1st, but we didn't notice any interference at that point.

So. If you don't remember what I wrote last June, have a look here.

I'm now afraid to express my opinions online. I'm now afraid to be talking to the wrong people. I'm now afraid to accidentally stumble onto the wrong websites.

That's not right. It's not right when citizens fear their own government. That's what happens in those evil faraway countries you've only heard about by rumors. Not at home. Not in a democracy. Not here.

And the worst of it all is that this doesn't only affect me. It affects you too. They have stated in live interviews that the information they store may very well be for sale to foreign organizations. So if you thought you were safe because your country didn't do this kind of stupid shit, maybe they'll buy the data we have of you instead.

So anything you say to me can, and will, be used against you.

And what about all the political refugees we shelter? Not long ago, some Somali officials were seen up here in Sweden, forcefully bringing Somali refugees back home to their own country. I don't even want to think about what may have happened to them after that.

This world is a fucked up place and I don't want to be a part of it in its current state. There has got to be a revolution soon. A global revolution. We are capable of so much more, so much better. The world could be a wonderful place. But it's not.

Makes me feel sad, and helpless.