Publication
“Who’s there? SVT doesn’t need to know”
Op-ed on SvD Debatt on 16 October 2026, written with Linda Paxling as co-founders of Dataskuggan: public service broadcaster SVT’s plan to require login to watch SVT Play is a step toward normalizing surveillance for surveillance’s sake – while putting up new barriers to a service that must be accessible to everyone.
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- If you only accept necessary data processing, SVT Play no longer remembers how far you got in an episode – even though saving that without tracking is technically simple. In deceptive design this is called deliberate degradation; Cory Doctorow calls it enshittification.
- Requiring login for something that works without an account is not an improvement for the user. It is coercion, and it means more processing of personal data.
- QR codes, passwords and email confirmations add new sources of confusion for someone who just wants to watch TV, with no computer or phone nearby.
- We asked the Swedish data protection authority (IMY), PTS and the Swedish Agency for the Media to look at how this fits with the GDPR and with public service’s duty to reach everyone.
“When you watch SVT, SVT watches you. From a distance, and with limited sight. That’s how digital works. But the question now is whether SVT, when you want to watch the documentary about China’s surveillance society, should get to force you into their locked room to see even more of you. And at the same time claim you should be grateful for it.” (translated from Swedish)
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