

German Federal Prosecutor's office gets involved in the NSA data scandal - nilsjuenemann
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fpolitik%2Fdeutschland%2Fbundesanwaltschaft-ueberprueft-nsa-ueberwachung-a-908617.html

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Vivtek
Surveillance of Germany: Federal Prosecutor's office gets involved in the NSA
data scandal

By Jörg Schindler

Central NSA offices in Fort Meade: spy programs are a case for German
jurisprudence

According to SPIEGEL's sources, surveillance by the the American spy service
NSA has now also come to the attention of the Federal Prosecutor's office.
Information is being gathered in Karlsruhe about the American and British spy
programs – a suit against unknown parties has already been filed.

Berlin – the spy affair involving the American spy service NSA has now reached
the Federal Prosecutor's office. Located in Karlsruhe and responsible for
criminal acts against domestic security, according to SPIEGEL sources the
agency is investigating whether the systematic data surveillance of German
citizens is a crime involving national security.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor's office confirmed that all available
and relevant information about the Prism, Tempora, and Boundless Informant is
currently being evaluated. An attempt is being made to construct a "reliable
basis in fact". Whether and when the Federal Prosecutor may issue a formal
finding is a question that remains open.

However, she stated that even now "criminal prosecutation can be expected in
this context." According to SPIEGEL sources, one such suit has already been
filed: A resident of Hessen filed suit against unknown parties this week with
the State Attorney in Giessen. That makes the NSA scandal an official matter
for the German judiciary for the first time.

According to SPIEGEL sources, the surveillance of Germany by the US spy
service NSA is more extensive than heretofore assumed. Secret NSA documents
reveal that the agency systematically inspects and store a large part of
telephone and Internet connection data. According to internal statistics at
the spy agency, about 500 million communications connections are monitored in
the Federal Republic of Germany each month. The NSA has categorized Germany as
a target.

SPIEGEL also reports that the NSA has bugged EU representatives and
infiltrated computer systems. The disclosures about the NSA Prism program and
the British Tempora program originated from material gathered by whistleblower
Edward Snowden.

Videoconference with London on Tempora

The British government, whose spy service Government Communications
Headquarters (GCHQ) hosts the data vacuum cleaner Tempora that is aimed at
Germany, has in the meantime deviated from their strict policy of silence. In
the past week, London responded to a request for information from the German
government with the sparse note that communications service operations are
never the subject of open discussion. Anyone who wants to know something
should contact the British spy service directly – at the appropriate level.

In particular Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger seemed
rather taken aback. "Three measly lines", said the FDP party member, are not
enough to patch up a scandal of these dimensions.

Now the Foreign Office of the federal government has received an invitation
from the Brits to a video conference to be held tomorrow at 4 PM in the
British Embassy in Berlin. According to SPIEGEL sources, the Germans will be
represented by experts from the Ministries of the Interior and Justice, the
Foreign Office, and the Federal Communications Service, among others. In light
of the latest revelations, it's said internally, hard questions can be
anticipated.

534 words. My invoice will be in the mail. After all the discussion, I went
with "target" for "Angriffsziel". In context it really is the best
translation.

~~~
mpyne
Thanks for the translation, it was so good that I didn't realize I was reading
a _translation_ of an article until right at the end.

------
qwertzlcoatl
It's so funny to see all this railing up against NSA and PRISM, while
tomorrow, the first of July 2013, the "Bestandsdatenauskunft" will be
implemented as law in Germany. A commentator from _Die Zeit_ newspaper tersely
summed up the intentionally abstruse wording of the new rules. The law means,
“that police and intelligence services will in the future be allowed to obtain
extremely personal information about mobile phone users, and do so with the
press of a button and without having to face any major legal hurdles”.

Crudely translated it would mean something similar to "Inventory Data
Information Act". Parts of the new law are the following:

> With respect to the obligations of the access providers, ISPs with more than
> 100,000 customers are now required to maintain a “secure electronic
> interface” in order to minimise the time needed for certain agencies to
> retrieve information.

The innocuous sounding term, “inventory data”, should not detract from the
fact that the issue involves direct access to people’s private lives. “Not
only names, addresses and bank account details will be sent to the police. But
also the PINs of the mobile phones, and passwords blocking e-mail inboxes and
accessing services like Dropbox and dynamic IP addresses”, warned Die Zeit .

Proper english article (I don't know about this source in general, but this
one is accurate):
[https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/11/germ-a11.html](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/11/germ-a11.html)

Google translated german articles:

 _Die Zeit_ :
[http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_...](http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Fdigital%2Fdatenschutz%2F2013-03%2Fbestandsdaten-
breyer-bundestag)

 _Der Spiegel_ :
[http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=htt...](http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fnetzwelt%2Fnetzpolitik%2Fnrw-
beschwor-horrorszenarien-fuer-bestandsdatenauskunft-a-899421.html)

 _Netzpolitik.org_ :
[http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=htt...](http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnetzpolitik.org%2F2013%2Fwie-
fur-die-bestandsdatenauskunft-getrickst-wurde%2F)

The debate about this is astonishing mute on its own, but compared to the NSA,
PRISM and TEMPORA public outcry, the debate about the Bestandsdatenauskunft is
basically non-existent at the moment.

~~~
znowi
I'm surprised Germans are not up in arms about it given the Stasi history.
They should know better.

Similar-minded agencies in other nations most likely will try to _catch up_
with NSA/PRISM. It is a serious issue and I hope people will not let the NSA
scandal be a cover for those initiatives, but an aid to expose them.

~~~
Vivtek
Yeah, I saw a demonstration in Stuttgart once against the _census_ \- and now
they're fine with Bestandsdatenauskunft?

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noloqy
I'm surprised, and also quite disappointed, that only Germany (that I know of)
takes the spying on its citizens so seriously. I wish more governments would
inquire the legality of the NSA programs, and would dare to take action in
case it is ruled illegal.

~~~
akr
The government may publicly take a stance against the NSA programs but in
reality it not only wishes to, but is actually implementing simmilar programs
in Germany (see "Bestandsdatenauskunft"). I doubt that any real action will be
taken.

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susi22
An English article on these issues. Today from Spiegel Online:

[http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-officials-
furi...](http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-officials-furious-at-
nsa-spying-in-brussels-and-germany-a-908614.html)

~~~
Vivtek
_Some have called for a suspension of talks on the trans-Atlantic free trade
agreement._

And now we start talking about costs to the United States.

~~~
arrrg
And Germany. Free trade is win-win, definitely when two countries are
similarity developed.

Not going forward with this would be stupid and benefit no one. It's not even
a threat.

~~~
krbbltr
I'm not so sure. What if one of those countries is not actually sovereign?
What if there is also one-sided industrial espionage happening on a massive
scale?

I'm not convinced it's win-win when the game is rigged.

Maybe my reasoning is overly simplistic. Maybe I'm being paranoid. But I'm
wary now of every agenda the US is pushing.

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gerhardi
Now my (naive?) hopes are a tiny bit higher that the American espionage
suspects will get extradited from USA to Germany to face charges and possible
punishments.

Edit: has such action EVER taken place?

~~~
Vivtek
Hahaha. Ask Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, and a whole host of other American
bad actors who hesitate to leave the safe confines of the United States
nowadays.

~~~
kriro
Kissinger was in Germany to watch his favourite soccer club play (Fürth). I'd
say that counts as "leave the safe confines of the United States".

He also celebrated his birthday in Fürth in 2012.

~~~
Vivtek
I wasn't actually talking about Germany. He does have to avoid countries that
have declared him (accurately, in my opinion) a war criminal.

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JoeCoo7
Its nice that at least something happens, but the German Supreme Prosecution
Service is not independent from the government as the supreme court is. So if
the German government is involved somehow its only eyewash for the crowd and
nothing will happen.

At least more media coverage, that is good for mobilizing more people to
protest against it.

~~~
cygx
Keep in mind that the current minister of justice Sabine Leutheusser-
Schnarrenberger already held this position under Helmut Kohl, resigned due to
her opposition to electronic eavesdropping and submitted a constitutional
complaint[1].

Elections will be held in September, though, so it's anyone's guess who'll
hold this position a few months from now.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verfassungsbeschwerde](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verfassungsbeschwerde)

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shnacker
der Spiegel is one of the major German news publications and it has an English
site:

[http://www.spiegel.de/international/search/index.html?suchbe...](http://www.spiegel.de/international/search/index.html?suchbegriff=NSA&pageNumber=1&suchbereich=dokumenttext&suchzeitraum=&fromDate=&toDate=)

but it might be a couple days behind.

------
stfu
Is there any hope that something tangible is going to come out of that? Given
its history it seems more than unlikely that Germany has any abilities of
severe actions. Oh well, I am sure they are going to send a detailed list of
issues that need to be addressed through "diplomatic channels"...

~~~
DasIch
Germany for obvious reasons has significant power in the EU, killing the free
trade agreement and blocking further cooperation on any levels would certainly
be possible.

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kushti
It's time to stop global US cyberfascism

~~~
krapp
Ok. How?

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SeanDav
oh, the irony of using Google to translate these....

