STOCKHOLM (AP) Internet freedom activists plan to protest U.S. online spying when Barack Obama visits Stockholm this week, but the Swedish officials say they won't raise the sensitive issue with the U.S. president.
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told The Associated Press on Monday that government surveillance of the Internet is "going on worldwide" and is not something on the agenda during Obama's visit Wednesday and Thursday.
"We are not entirely innocent ourselves," Bildt said in a phone interview. "We conduct both intelligence and security operations on the Net. But they are regulated by law. And we have stringent safeguards and surveillance of them."
He also noted that the European Union already is in discussions about "data privacy" issues with the United States.
The Swedish government sees itself as a champion of Internet freedom but critics have accused it of double standards for not speaking out against U.S. surveillance programs exposed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
