Germany’s foreign intelligence accused of spying on own citizens abroad

[nomoba]

“BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, used a loophole in the law to snoop on the country’s citizens living abroad from 2000 to 2005, the former agency’s lawyer told German MPs.”

“Usually, there is law 'G10' which specifies high legal hurdles to cover before spying on German citizens, including when they live abroad. If these requirements aren’t met, then the data on them should be filtered from foreign communications received by BND. However, Dr. Stefan Burbaum told parliament about a loophole: a person was named 'office holder' if targeted.”


“BND also breached 'G10' legislation regarding telecom traffic, retaining some content the service hadn’t been authorized to check. So the law was turned into a 'foot in the door' for some data they wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise, Burbaum said.”



“The revelation comes shortly after the German government signed a 'no-spying contract' with Canadian smartphone company Blackberry. Under the agreement, German authorities are to audit Blackberry software. The company also has to reveal if they provide users’ information to foreign intelligence.”

[nomoba]

Angela's double message

Message to European people:


“German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday warned that Europe could slide back into recession, German newspaper Frankfurt Allgemeine reported. 'If we do not want to be left behind by the growth markets, then Europe has to hurry up,' Merkel told a conference of European family entrepreneurs here. [...] Given the increasing weight of Asia in the global economy, 'Europe is no longer the measure of all things,' said Merkel.”

Message to the lobbyists:


“She [Angela Merkel] called for an early conclusion of ongoing trade agreement negotiations with Canada and the United States. [...] She noted that opportunities may outweigh risks once the free-trade agreements with Canada and United States are put into place.”

fe

[nomoba]

“The analysis of documents released by American whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals that emails from the state-run BBC, Reuters, the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, the Sun, NBC and the Washington Post were saved by GCHQ and shared on the agency’s intranet as part of a test exercise by the signals intelligence agency.”


“The journalists’ communications were among 70,000 emails harvested in the space of less than 10 minutes on one day in November 2008 by one of GCHQ’s numerous taps on the fiber-optic cables that make up the backbone of the Internet, the Guardian reported Monday.”


“The communications, which were sometimes simple mass-PR emails sent to dozens of journalists but also included correspondence between reporters and editors discussing stories, were retained by GCHQ and were available to all cleared staff on the agency intranet. There is nothing to indicate whether or not the journalists were intentionally targeted.”


“New evidence from other UK intelligence documents revealed by Snowden also shows that a GCHQ information security assessment listed 'investigative journalists' as a threat in a hierarchy alongside terrorists or hackers.”