Blog

You can now support the work of the 5th of July Foundation by wearing our clothes!

We cooperate with Tifosi, a Swedish supplier of attire for sports clubs. We chose Tifosi because of the high quality of the clothes and the sustainable company profile, where your clothes are printed locally in Sollebrunn, Västra Götaland, when you place an order. A part of the payment for every garment goes to the 5th of July Foundation.

Check out our shop here:

https://www.tifosi.se/5july

We start out with a selection of polo shirts, hoodies and t-shirts in different colors and sizes, for men, women and kids. You can choose our logotype in Swedish or English (including the English slogan Security. Privacy. Liberty.). Note that the product images are too small to show our logotype in its whole glory, but rest assured it will be perfectly crisp when printed on the clothes!

Can I order outside Sweden too?

Yes, you can! While the shop is in Swedish and Tifosi defaults to shipping within Sweden, they can also ship outside Sweden if you send them an email to the address listed under “Support & FAQ”.

The 5th of July Foundation has issued a comment letter to the public inquiry SOU 2024:59, on “signals intelligence in defense” in Sweden.

In short, we argue that the proposal to increase the authority of the FRA (the National Defence Radio Establishment) to surveil Swedes and Swedes’ communications is in violation of the fundamental protections of privacy and correspondence that the European Convention on Human Rights warrants.

In addition, the inquiry demonstrates substantial shortcomings, for example by not describing and quantifying negative consequences of the proposals, which makes assessments of proportionality impossible.

The 5th of July Foundation therefore advises against the law proposal.

Instead, we recommend a review of all surveillance laws, which includes the costs of surveillance.

Our comment letter can be read in Swedish here:

• Yttrande/Remiss över Signalspaning i försvarsunderrättelseverksamhet – en modern och ändamålsenlig lagstiftning (SOU 2024:59), Fö2024/01478 (PDF)

It’s the end of the year, and the 5th of July Foundation has made donations to EFF and the Tor Project, both non-profit organizations who share our goals.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation in the US does an immensely important work fighting surveillance and censorship, and defending encryption and free expression worldwide. We donated during their “Power Up” week, which means that every donation to EFF is doubled by sponsors.

The Tor Project develops tools that enables anonymous communication through onion routing. The 5th of July Foundation has contributed to the project both with a donation and with infrastructure.

The 5th of July Foundation has issued a comment letter to the public inquiry SOU 2023:75, on “strengthened constitutional preparedness” in Sweden.

In short, we argue that allowing new ways to pass laws during peacetime crises risks leading to an unacceptable curtailment of human rights.

History has shown us, both in Sweden and abroad, that there is rather a need for strengthening the protection of the people and the parliament, particularly in the case of a minority government.

In addition, we conclude that the inquiry lacks the level of quality that the basis for legislation should have.

The 5th of July Foundation therefore advises against the law proposal.

Our comment letter can be read in Swedish here:

• Yttrande/Remiss över SOU 2023:75 ”Stärkt konstitutionell beredskap” Ju2023/02742 (PDF)

The 5th of July Foundation has issued a comment letter to the public inquiry SOU 2023:22, on “data retention and access to electronic information” in Sweden.

In short, we argue that

• the inquiry does not reach the level of quality that legislation demands,
• parts of the commission’s report are based on misunderstandings regarding how internet and telecommunications work,
• the law proposal is disproportionate,
• the law proposal is in violation of the basic protection of privacy and private communications,
• the law proposal is, with high probability, in violation of EU law.

The 5th of July Foundation therefore advises against the law proposal.

Our comment letter can be read in Swedish here:

• Yttrande/Remiss över SOU 2023:22 ”Datalagring och åtkomst till elektronisk information” Ju 2023/01326 (PDF)