Sweden OKs spying on emails

Sweden's government presented a contentious plan to allow a defense intelligence agency to monitor email traffic and phone calls crossing the nation's borders without a court order, an Associated Press report said.

The Associated Press report said the government insists only a fraction of the electronic communication will be affected, but critics worry that the program, designed to combat terrorism and other threats to national security, is too far-reaching.

Their concerns resemble criticism of a US surveillance program launched in 2001 that monitors international phone calls and emails to or from the US involving people suspected by the government of having terrorist links, the report said.