Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

En gammal lagstiftning i ny kostym? En rättslägesanalys med särskilt fokus på domstolarnas tolkning och tillämpning av brottet olaga integritetsintrång

Sandgren, Karolina LU (2023) JURM02 20231
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
The crime of unlawful invasion of privacy took effect in Swedish legislation January 1st 2018 and was introduced as part of the political work to modernize Swedish criminal law to be able to meet the legal challenges in our increasingly digitized society in a more satisfactory way. The rise of the Internet has had positive as well as negative consequences, for individuals as well as for the democratic society at large. The new era of communication and information dissemination has entailed obvious risks for violation of the privacy of individuals to a significantly greater extent than was previously possible.
However, the criminal laws protection of personal integrity cannot and should not be absolute. All regulations aimed at protecting... (More)
The crime of unlawful invasion of privacy took effect in Swedish legislation January 1st 2018 and was introduced as part of the political work to modernize Swedish criminal law to be able to meet the legal challenges in our increasingly digitized society in a more satisfactory way. The rise of the Internet has had positive as well as negative consequences, for individuals as well as for the democratic society at large. The new era of communication and information dissemination has entailed obvious risks for violation of the privacy of individuals to a significantly greater extent than was previously possible.
However, the criminal laws protection of personal integrity cannot and should not be absolute. All regulations aimed at protecting the individual's personal integrity are based on a solid belief that each individual has the right to respect for his or her dignity as well as the right to self-determination. At the same time, opposing interests such as freedom of expression and the free formation of opinions should not be restricted to a greater extent than necessary.
The previous legislation to protect personal integrity was outdated, but had by a developed practice been able to apply on situations that may arise in society today, such as the spread of privacy-infringing material on the internet.
Precedents regarding illegal invasion of privacy has been poor on the part of the Swedish Supreme Court. Only two cases has been tried by the Supreme Court since crime took effect, both in 2020. According to a study I have made of more than 500 cases from the lower courts, the usage of the crime in the lower courts are diffuse, inconsistent and uncertain, and I believe that the legal situation is in great need of clarification through precedents on many points. The assessment of intent needs to be clarified, as well as the propriety of dissemination and it would be desirable to have precedents that deal with more types of material, to clarify the actual boundaries of the punishable area. Only a few of the rulings in my study deal with other material than that with sexual and/or nude content, which is unfortunate as the legislation allows for a much wider use of the regulation.
According to the legal situation in the lower courts today, illegal invasion of privacy is limited to mainly deal with such material that could already be punishable by, for example, the defamation regulation. In my opinion, only an expansion through precedents or additional criminalization can meet the ever-growing need to punish dissemination of particularly privacy-infringing material on the internet. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Brottet olaga integritetsintrång trädde i kraft i svensk lagstiftning den 1 januari år 2018 och infördes som en del i det politiska arbetet med att modernisera den svenska straffrätten till att på ett mer tillfredsställande sätt kunna möta de utmaningar som uppstått i vårt alltmer digitaliserade samhälle. Internets framväxt har inneburit positiva såväl som negativa konsekvenser, både för individen och för det demokratiska samhället i stort. Den nya tidens kommunikation och informationsspridning innebär också uppenbara risker för att enskilda personers integritet kan komma att kränkas i en betydligt större omfattning än vad som tidigare har varit möjligt.
Det straffrättsliga skyddet för den personliga integriteten kan och bör dock inte... (More)
Brottet olaga integritetsintrång trädde i kraft i svensk lagstiftning den 1 januari år 2018 och infördes som en del i det politiska arbetet med att modernisera den svenska straffrätten till att på ett mer tillfredsställande sätt kunna möta de utmaningar som uppstått i vårt alltmer digitaliserade samhälle. Internets framväxt har inneburit positiva såväl som negativa konsekvenser, både för individen och för det demokratiska samhället i stort. Den nya tidens kommunikation och informationsspridning innebär också uppenbara risker för att enskilda personers integritet kan komma att kränkas i en betydligt större omfattning än vad som tidigare har varit möjligt.
Det straffrättsliga skyddet för den personliga integriteten kan och bör dock inte vara absolut. Alla bestämmelser som syftar till att skydda den enskildes personliga integritet grundar sig i en övertygelse om att varje individ har rätt till respekt för sin värdighet och rätt till självbestämmande. Samtidigt bör motstående intressen som yttrandefrihet och den fria åsiktsbildningen inte begränsas i större utsträckning än nödvändigt.
Den lagstiftning som tidigare fanns till skydd för den personliga integriteten var till stor del föråldrad, men hade genom praxis utvecklats till att kunna tillämpas även på sådana integritetskränkande situationer som förekommer i dagens samhälle, såsom spridning av integritetskränkande material på internet.
Praxis gällande olaga integritetsintrång har varit knapphändig från Högsta domstolens håll. Endast två fall har prövats av HD sedan brottet infördes, båda år 2020. En omfattande undersökning av över 500 underrättsavgöranden visar att tillämpningen av bestämmelsen i underrätterna är både spretig, osäker och inkonsekvent i flera avseenden och jag anser att rättsläget är i stort behov av att olaga integritetsintrång förtydligas genom praxis på ett flertal punkter. Uppsåtsbedömningen behöver klargöras, spridningsrekvisitet behöver förtydligas och framför allt vore det önskvärt med praxis som behandlar fler typer av material, i syfte att tydliggöra det straffbara områdets faktiska gränser. Endast ett fåtal av de över 500 avgöranden jag har undersökt behandlar annat material än sådant med sexuellt och/eller naket innehåll, vilket är problematiskt eftersom lagstiftningen tillåter en betydligt bredare tillämpning av bestämmelsen än den som föreligger hos underrätterna i dagsläget.
Som rättsläget i faktisk mening ser ut idag är olaga integritetsintrång begränsat till att i huvudsak gälla sådant material som redan tidigare kunde vara straffbart enligt exempelvis förtalsbestämmelsen. Enligt min mening kan bara en utvidgning genom praxis alternativt ytterligare nykriminalisering möta det ständigt växande behovet av att straffbelägga spridning av särskilt integritetskränkande material på internet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Sandgren, Karolina LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
An old law in a new costume? An analysis of the legal situation regarding illegal invasion of privacy with particularly focus on the courts' interpretation and application of the crime
course
JURM02 20231
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
straffrätt, olaga integritetsintrång, förtal, empirisk undersökning, rättstillämpning, brott, PUL
language
Swedish
id
9116338
date added to LUP
2023-06-09 11:06:45
date last changed
2023-06-09 11:06:45
@misc{9116338,
  abstract     = {{The crime of unlawful invasion of privacy took effect in Swedish legislation January 1st 2018 and was introduced as part of the political work to modernize Swedish criminal law to be able to meet the legal challenges in our increasingly digitized society in a more satisfactory way. The rise of the Internet has had positive as well as negative consequences, for individuals as well as for the democratic society at large. The new era of communication and information dissemination has entailed obvious risks for violation of the privacy of individuals to a significantly greater extent than was previously possible.
However, the criminal laws protection of personal integrity cannot and should not be absolute. All regulations aimed at protecting the individual's personal integrity are based on a solid belief that each individual has the right to respect for his or her dignity as well as the right to self-determination. At the same time, opposing interests such as freedom of expression and the free formation of opinions should not be restricted to a greater extent than necessary.
The previous legislation to protect personal integrity was outdated, but had by a developed practice been able to apply on situations that may arise in society today, such as the spread of privacy-infringing material on the internet.
Precedents regarding illegal invasion of privacy has been poor on the part of the Swedish Supreme Court. Only two cases has been tried by the Supreme Court since crime took effect, both in 2020. According to a study I have made of more than 500 cases from the lower courts, the usage of the crime in the lower courts are diffuse, inconsistent and uncertain, and I believe that the legal situation is in great need of clarification through precedents on many points. The assessment of intent needs to be clarified, as well as the propriety of dissemination and it would be desirable to have precedents that deal with more types of material, to clarify the actual boundaries of the punishable area. Only a few of the rulings in my study deal with other material than that with sexual and/or nude content, which is unfortunate as the legislation allows for a much wider use of the regulation.
According to the legal situation in the lower courts today, illegal invasion of privacy is limited to mainly deal with such material that could already be punishable by, for example, the defamation regulation. In my opinion, only an expansion through precedents or additional criminalization can meet the ever-growing need to punish dissemination of particularly privacy-infringing material on the internet.}},
  author       = {{Sandgren, Karolina}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{En gammal lagstiftning i ny kostym? En rättslägesanalys med särskilt fokus på domstolarnas tolkning och tillämpning av brottet olaga integritetsintrång}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}