Confidentiality in electronic communication

Protection of privacy and confidentiality in electronic communications

The confidentiality of communications is guaranteed as a basic right in the Constitution of Finland. The secrecy of correspondence, telephony and other confidential communications is inviolable. Unless authorized, no one is allowed to handle another person's messages or identification data related to communications.

The Penal Code criminalizes communications secrecy violations.

For example, it is punishable to obtain unlawful information by hacking

• a message that is being delivered in the telecommunications network; and
• an electronically-stored message that has been protected from third parties.

Restrictions of the confidentiality of communications

According to the Constitution of Finland, it is possible to restrict the right to confidential communications e.g. in crime investigation.

The Police have the right to intercept and monitor telecommunications when it comes to solving minor offences related to communications. Also, emergency services authorities have the right to obtain information on the location of the subscriber connection of the user who made the emergency call and of the user who is in distress.

Telecom operators and other organisations that transmit electronic messages in their networks are deemed, to a certain extent, to handle information related to the messages in order to deliver them.

The Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications lays down provisions on the rights of the sender of a message to handle messages and the identification data of the messages stored in networks.