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Germany Won't Prosecute NSA, But Bloggers

tmk writes: Despite plenty of evidence that the U.S. spied on German top government officials, German Federal Prosecutor General Harald Range has declined to investigate any wrongdoings of the secret services of allied nations like the NSA or the British GCHQ. But after plans of the German secret service "Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz" to gain some cyper spy capabilities like the NSA were revealed by the blog netzpolitik.org, Hange started an official investigation against the bloggers and their sources. They are now being probed for possible treason charges.

5 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So much stupid by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How do these writers make it to mainstream media.

    Uh, that's a skill required in mainstream media. "The Officer's pistol discharged." Obfuscate and decline to the passive voice. Don't rock the boat and always demur to power. Keep the corporation highly profitable.

    It's indy media that says, "yet another cop shot an innocent fucking black man in the head," not establishment.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  2. Re:link broken? by koinu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At the moment they say that their site is overloaded with requests on Twitter. Everyone shows solidarity for them there using the hashtag #Landesverrat (treason).

  3. Re:Ever heard of the Stasi prosecuting KGB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Funnily though, the stasi did prosecute the NSA, it had intelligence about it. After unification, the originals of the documents were flown to the USA.
    http://www.microsofttranslator...

    The STASI officials destroyed the proof of their crimes during their last days in office, the west german government destroyed the proof of the NSA's crimes afterwards.

  4. Re:Won't or can't? by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It depends how Germany now understands the NSA and all its help setting up West German telco systems after WW2.
    German decryption teams found gainful employment in 1945 with the UK/US TICOM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... teams.
    Generations of West Germans worked with the NSA and traveled to the US to view emerging US systems, hardware and other crypto systems.
    That kind of generational contact has allowed the US to handle elite German crypto staff and keep them away from any domestic West/German legal or political process.
    That deal with the USA gave West German total mystery over its internal and international communications networks for decades.
    So a few German elected political leaders are facing the might of decades of US/German military friendship at a top level beyond German law.
    Other US West German intelligence contacts can be understood from the Gehlen Organization years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    All German political parties know is their communications have been tasked by the USA even when declared safe by decades of expert West/German crypto officials.
    Any inter party or elected party efforts on this topic that where discussed over a secure German network of any kind would have been intercepted.
    Given the years of US/UK access to West/German political communications it would be hard to find a cleared German crypto expert who could even present the scope of what was done to German communications networks.
    The clearance levels that exist in Germany for German experts would not be of any use to any committee and no German staff with US systems access would be cleared by the US to talk to anyone in Germany at any level.
    The US and UK have that domestic legal staff aspect covered in an nation they 'help' :)
    US security work given to local German staff out rank any domestic German legal traditions or German fact finding political settings.

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    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. Re:A bit of history by Sique · · Score: 3, Interesting
    No, he's thinking more along Ulysses Grant; "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution."

    If you never test bad laws or laws with unintended consequences in court, no one will ever see the bad outcomes and unintendend consequences.

    --
    .sig: Sique *sigh*