Filatov confirms: rumours of Nokia threat to leave circulated “at a general level”; vote on content of Lex Nokia expected today

No support from Greens as bill debated in Parliament on Tuesday

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Former Minister of Employment Tarja Filatov (SDP) says that a number of rumours circulated during the preparation of a bill on electronic data protection, according to which there was pressure being exerted from Nokia to get the bill passed.
      The bill, which would allow employers access to information on their employees’ e-mail contacts on the company’s own e-mail system, has become known as Lex Nokia, because of Nokia’s strong advocacy of the amendment.
      The proposed law was debated in a full session of Parliament on Tuesday.
      Filatov herself was not put under any pressure, and she did not consider the rumours to be very reliable.
      She says that she heard of threats on a general level from various sources. According to the threats, the mobile phone manufacturer would have threatened to leave Finland altogether if the bill is not approved.
      Filatov held her ministerial post when the bill was under preparation in the spring of 2006.
     
“I heard various rumours and claims that pressure was being put by Nokia in the matter, but nobody made any threats to me directly, or tried to pressure me”, Filatov told Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday morning.
      According to Filatov, the rumours were not overly reliable.
      “I never treat as reliable any information that I get through multiple intermediaries. I want to get to the main source directly.”
     
Filatov’s former subordinate, Markku Wallin, who was the chief of staff at the ministry at the time, said in Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday that threats had been aired about the possible departure of Nokia already in the spring of 2006.
      The claims were confirmed by Antti Rinne, chairman of the Union of Salaried Employees (TU).
      Filatov says that the allegations of pressure did not come up in discussions between herself and Wallin. Filatov says that the focus was on the content of the bill.
      Filatov also does not want to speculate on the possibility that the Confederation of Finnish Industry (EK) would have used the threat that Nokia might forsake Finland as a way to push its view on the matter.
      The Ministry of Transport and Communications had responsibility for laying the groundwork for the bill. Markku Wallin says that the result would have been more balanced if the preparations for the law had been made openly, in a working group led by the Ministry of Labour.
     
At Tuesday’s Parliamentary debate, Filatov said that the proposal is problematic in many ways, and that the bill should be sent back for further consideration.
      She said that the aim of the proposal, protecting corporate secrets, is important, but she feels that the proposal in its present form is confused.
     
One problem in her view is that the proposed legislation would also apply to communities, where there is no significant risk of a leak of business secrets. Universities are one example of this.
      Filatov also feels that the bill would place an unreasonable burden on the Data Protection Ombudsman, who would have to evaluate how serious a corporate secret leak would be involved in each case.
     
During Tuesday's debate, none of the MPs of the Green League showed any understanding for the Lex Nokia bill.
      Green parliamentarians lashed out at the preparation of the law, and at its content, which they said would erode fundamental rights.
      Their manner was subdued, however, as the Greens have two ministers in the present government.
      MP Osmo Soininvaara, a former Green League chairman and a former government minister, said that the text of the law appears to have been drawn up “in the wee small hours”, without input from ministry civil servants.
      Earlier in his blog, Soininvaara wondered if Nokia considers its employees to be lazy or stupid. “It would be idiotic to use a company’s e-mail programme to leak secrets, considering that there are a thousand webmail services, and quite a few computers have USB ports for external memories.”
     
There were also calls among the opposition Social Democrats and Left Alliance and from the Green League MPs to reject the bill, which was formally put before Parliament by Minister of Communications Suvi Lindén (National Coalition Party).
      Lindén stoutly defended the bill against critics from within the government and without, though at times she cut a solitary figure, as she was alone on the ministerial benches - the remainder of the government were elsewhere discussing the programme for the second half of the administration's four-year term.
     
A first vote on the content of the bill will be held in Parliament today.
      It is expected that the vote will cause some ructions within the government, as the Greens are still insisting on changes - primarily the restriction of the scope of the proposed legislation to include only cases involving the disclosure of company secrets.
      At least in principle, the bill as it stands would also allow schools and colleges, libraries, municipal and state offices, and housing associations to access information on senders and recipients of e-mail. In practice ths would nevertheless be a complex and long-winded exercise.
      A decisive vote to accept or reject the bill will be held next Wednesday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Labour Ministry official confirms threat of Nokia leaving Finland over law on electronic communications (24.2.2009)
  Trade Union pressured over Lex Nokia back in 2006 (23.2.2009)
  SDP leader wants government to withdraw Lex Nokia (16.2.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat