The Swedish parliament has delayed a vote on a bill that would allow local authorities to monitor e-mail and fax messages and telephone calls.

The bill, due to be voted Wednesday morning, now goes back to the Committee on Defense to be slightly reworked in order to appease critics within the majority coalition. The changes are meant to beef up protection of personal privacy.

Four members of the majority coalition would have to vote against the bill for it to fail, which seemed likely during a long debate in the parliament on Tuesday.

A new vote is expected later Wednesday, the last day for floor debate in the current parliamentary session, or on Thursday. Parliament looks likely to then approve the bill.

The bill, if passed, will allow the Swedish Defense Radio Establishment, a civilian organization that falls under the Ministry of Defense, to listen in on wired traffic that crosses Swedish borders, to protect against what has been dubbed “external threats.”

56 percent of Swedes think the parliament should just say no the bill, 34 percent think it should approve it, and 10 percent has no opinion, according to a survey by Novus Opinion, done at the behest of TV channel TV4.

Only 21 percent are nervous about being bugged themselves, the survey found.