
Chaos Computer Club criticizes police action - singularity2001
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/hausdurchsuchungen-bei-netzaktivisten-chaos-computer-club-kritisiert-polizeivorgehen-a-1216463.html
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jensecj
CCC reported this on their own website earlier today.
[https://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2018/hausdurchsuchungen-bei-
ve...](https://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2018/hausdurchsuchungen-bei-
vereinsvorstanden-der-zwiebelfreunde-und-im-openlab-augsburg) (in english)

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sctb
Thanks, we've moved most comments to the thread here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17456289](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17456289).

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edejong
Translation from deepl.com:

House searches of net activists

Chaos Computer Club criticizes police action

Police have searched club rooms and homes of net activists. Those affected are
only witnesses, but documents and technology have been confiscated. This
raises questions of proportionality.

By Maik Baumgärtner, Martin Knobbe and Vanessa Schlesier Evidence object from
the OpenLab in Augsburg: object from the 3D printer intimate

At the instigation of the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office, the premises of
the Dresdner Verein Zwiebelfreunde and the apartments of board members in
Berlin, Dresden, Augsburg and Jena were searched on June 20. In addition to
hard disks, mobile phones and computer technology, police officers also
confiscated a number of documents such as donation receipts and membership
lists from previous years. The Augsburg premises of the Chaos Computer Club
(CCC) were also searched.

The broad police action raises questions of proportionality. The Munich public
prosecutor's office is looking for the authors of the blog "Augsburg for riot
tourists", which called for violent protests against the AfD federal party
conference last weekend. The anonymous blog operators published an e-mail
address for contacting the US-American technology collective RiseUp.

The association Zwiebelfreunde has been collecting donations for the
alternative and non-commercial provider for years, whose services for
confidential communication are mainly used by social movements worldwide. This
is obviously the only reason why the German investigators took such massive
action against the association.

Early morning search

Two weeks ago, shortly after 6 o'clock, the doorbell rang at the apartment
door of the co-founder and board member of the Zwiebelfreunde, Moritz Bartl,
in Augsburg. The investigators informed Bartl that they wanted to find out the
identities of the initiators of the blog. According to Bartls, they took not
only equipment and documents of the association, but also equipment and
documents of his company as well as personal belongings of family members.

"Since then, normal work has been virtually impossible," says Bartl, who is
not considered an accused person in the trial, but merely a witness - like
everyone else searched. "I had to take a vacation. We are still trying to
process what has happened."

"A call from the prosecution could have cleared all this up."

Bartl cannot explain the massive action of the police: "As experts in
anonymization and encryption, we are regularly invited as speakers by police
authorities. A call to the prosecution could have cleared all this up."

The onion friends were founded in 2011 and the association operates so-called
Tor nodes, which serve to make the Tor network anonymous. Its members give
lectures and workshops on data security, encryption and anonymization. They
have also been working for years with NGOs such as Reporters Without Borders.
The Dresden Institute for Data Protection, which advises companies and
authorities, is a cooperation partner of the association.

Founder Bartl therefore suspects completely different motives of the
authorities: "The extensive confiscations, also of documents of uninvolved
projects, reinforce the impression that information about CCC Augsburg, our
association and supporters should be collected here.

According to SPIEGEL information, only documents and data carriers no older
than January 2018 should be confiscated. In fact, the documents confiscated
date back to 2011 - which, according to those involved, was also evident to
the officials.

"The search of witnesses is absolutely disproportionate."

Constanze Kurz, spokeswoman of the Chaos Computer Club, who has been working
closely with the onion friends for years, sharply criticises the authorities'
actions: "Searching witnesses is absolutely disproportionate, people are
treated like criminals, and all they do is collect donations.

She emphasized that CCC data was also affected, since documents of the
Executive Board were confiscated in Augsburg. "The case is a prime example of
how excessive police action has a massive impact on people's lives and work,"
says Kurz.

At the request of the SPIEGEL, the responsible police did not want to comment.
The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office announced that the persons affected by
the search were not suspicious and that the evaluation of the confiscated
computers and data carriers is continuing.

A scene during the search of the OpenLab project in Augsburg operated by Bartl
seems curious: The officers found chemical formulas on a blackboard and
various chemicals in the same room. They immediately took all those present,
including Bartl, into custody and searched other rooms.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

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arrrg
Wow, great translation! I could only find one meaning-distorting error:

Translation: “This is obviously the only reason why the German investigators
took such massive action against the association.” (which reads very nearly
like an editorial stance, not like dry newsprint, which is much more the
actual tone of the German article)

The actual meaning is more along the lines of: “This seems to be the only
reason why the German investigators took such massive action against the
association.” (but “seems” might be to weak, however, “obvious” is definitely
too strong).

Word for word this translation of “obvious” is correct, but the meaning this
turn of phrase takes in journalistic writing in German is slightly different:
It’s more along the lines of “this is so far we know now the only obvious
explanation for this, we couldn’t find out about any other reason”.

It works as a sort of disclaimer, cautioning the reader that there could be as
of yet unknown other factors involved, but at least those other factors aren’t
anything obvious.

(Slight meaning distorting error, but interpretable with context “A call to
the prosecution” should be “A call of the prosecution”. The difficulty is here
that the German text could be interpreted both ways and in German it’s the
context that determines the meaning.)

Also, the last paragraph is missing:

In a very short time it became clear what the detainees had already explained
on the spot, according to their own statements: The chemicals were standard
accessories for 3D printing and etching of circuit boards. Also, an object
from the 3D printer, in the form of a bomb, landed in a bag of evidence. The
corresponding inscription lists the offence "causing an explosive explosion".
The item can be seen in action here on YouTube.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

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dspig
yes, "apparently" is a better fit than "obviously"

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arrrg
Ah, yeah, that’s the best translation. Didn’t think of that.

