# Pirate Party Declaration of Principles/3.1/Citizens' Rights
## Democracy, Citizens' Rights and Personal Freedoms

The citizen's right to privacy is written in the Swedish constitution. From this fundamental right springs several other basic human rights like the rights to free speech, freedom of opinion, to obtain information as well as the right to culture and personal development. All attempts by the state to curtail these rights must be questioned and met with powerful opposition.
All powers, systems and methods that the state can use against its citizens must be under constant evaluation and scrutiny by elected officials. When the government ​uses surveillance powers against regular citizens who are not suspected of any crime, it is a fundamentally unacceptable and clear violation of the citizen's right to privacy. Each citizen must be guaranteed the right to anonymity which is inherent to our constitution and the right of the individual to control all use of his or her personal data must be strengthened.
The government must respect the constitution not just in saying, but in practice. Respect for the citizens and their privacy shall mean that principles like prohibition of torture, integrity of lawmaking, due process of law, messenger immunity, and the postal secret are not negotiable. The Pirate Party shall and will act to expose and bring down an administration that the party considers doesn't respect human rights, as expected from a western democracy.
The postal secrets act shall be elevated to a general communications secrets act. Just as it is prohibited to read someone else's mail today, it shall be forbidden to read or access e-mail, SMS or other forms of messages, regardless of the underlying technology or who the operator may be. Any and all exceptions from this rule must be well-motivated in each and every case. Employers shall only be allowed to access an employee's messages if this is absolutely necessary to secure the technical functionality or in direct connection with the employee's work-related duties. The government shall only be allowed access to a citizen's means of communication or put a citizen under surveillance in the case of a firm suspicion of a crime being committed by said citizen. In all other cases, the government shall assume its citizens to be innocent and leave them alone. This communications secrets act must be given a strong legal protection, as the government has repeatedly shown that it is not to be entrusted with sensitive information.
We want to repeal the Data Retention Directive and strengthen the citizens' right to privacy.
The Pirate Party has no opinion on whether Sweden should or should not be a member of the European Union, but now that we are, we have a right to demand that the union is governed by democratic principles. The democratic shortage in the Union must be addressed in the long term, and the first step is to prevent it from being set in stone through a bad constitution. The proposed European Union constitution that France and the Netherlands voted against shall not be accepted, neither in its original form nor with cosmetic changes.
Decision-making and governmental administration in both Sweden and the European Union shall be characterized by transparency and openness. Swedish representatives in the EU shall act to bring the Union closer to the Swedish principle of public access to records.
Foundations of democracy shall be protected, both in Sweden and in the EU.