There is something about it that doesn't quite compute.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party) has waged a legal battle against his former girlfriend Susan Ruusunen in order to defend his privacy - for example the privacy of his SMS text messages.
At the same time, Vanhanen's government would like - through the means of the so-called Lex Nokia legislation - to limit the rights of employees to the privacy of their e-mail correspondence.
According to Vanhanen, the details divulged about him by Ruusunen [in her book] are harmless enough, but it is a question of principle.
If on the other hand Lex Nokia goes through in Parliament, an employer will be entitled routinely to monitor the identification data of e-mails sent by employees, for example who is the recipient of the messages.
And who is Vanhanen's employer, then?
Do we not, the voters, thus have the right to monitor the identification data of Vanhanen's communication tools?
The messages may indeed be harmless, but it is a matter of principle.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.2.2009
