Latest Snowden revelations


Laura Poitras has a new story out in Der Spiegel today about how the NSA and GCHQ targeted 122 world leaders for spying, in addition to leading German telecommunications companies and particularly their engineers, using a hitherto secret court order to do so.

A secret NSA document dealing with high-ranking targets has provided further indications that Merkel was a target. The document is a presentation from the NSA’s Center for Content Extraction, whose multiple tasks include the automated analysis of all types of text data. The lists appear to contain 122 country leaders. Twelve names are listed as an example, including Merkel’s

One top-secret GCHQ paper claims the agency sought “development of in-depth knowledge of key satellite IP service providers in Germany.”

The document, which is undated, states that the goal of the effort was developing wider knowledge of Internet traffic flowing through Germany. The 26-page document explicitly names three of the German companies targeted for surveillance: Stellar, Cetel and IABG.

Contacted by SPIEGEL, Stellar CEO Steffen said he had not been aware of any attempts by intelligence services to infiltrate or hack his company. “I am shocked,” he said.

This episode exposes once again the hypocrisy of the west who talk loudly about freedom and other virtues when railing against their enemies and then go strangely silent when it comes to applying those same principles to their friends.

Monitoring companies and their employees along with the theft of customer lists are classic acts of economic espionage. Indeed, such revelations ought be a case for the German federal public prosecutors’ office, which in the past has initiated investigations into comparable cases involving Russia or China.

So far, however, German Federal Public Prosecutor Harald Range has been struggling with the NSA issue. Some experienced investigators have had a problem applying the same criteria used to assess intelligence services like Russia’s to those of the United States and Britain. Federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe have provided a preliminary assessment, but so far no decision has been made about whether the agency will move forward with legal proceedings.

The launch of legal proceedings against GCHQ agents or NSA employees would quickly become a major political issue that would further burden already tense trans-Atlantic relations. An additional problem is the fact that Range is in possession of very few original documents, particularly those pertaining to the NSA’s monitoring of Chancellor Merkel.

These new revelations may create public pressure for the clearly reluctant prosecutors to take action and charge people.

Under review at the moment are allegations that the NSA monitored the chancellor’s mobile phone and also conducted mass surveillance on the communications of millions of Germans. Range recently told the Berlin-based daily Die Tageszeitung the affair was “an extremely complicated issue.”

“I am currently reviewing whether reasonable suspicion even exists for an actionable criminal offense,” he told the newspaper. “Only if I can affirm that can I then address the question of whether a judiciary inquiry would run contrary to the general public interest — a review required for any espionage-related crime” in Germany. A decision is expected soon.

Ryan Gallagher at The Intercept has more on the story.

The ultimate aim of GCHQ was to obtain information that could help the spies infiltrate “teleport” satellites sold by these companies that send and receive data over the Internet. The document notes that GCHQ hoped to identify “access chokepoints” as part of a wider effort alongside partner spy agencies to “look at developing possible access opportunities” for surveillance.

In other words, infiltrating these companies was viewed as a means to an end for the British agents. Their ultimate targets were likely the customers. Cetel’s customers, for instance, include governments that use its communications systems to connect to the Internet in Africa and the Middle East. Stellar provides its communications systems to a diverse range of customers that could potentially be of interest to the spies – including multinational corporations, international organizations, refugee camps, and oil drilling platforms.

Is there anyone anywhere who still thinks that all this spying is about fighting terrorism?

Comments

  1. Chiroptera says

    Is there anyone anywhere who still thinks that all this spying is about fighting terrorism?

    I dunno. I’m still surprised that anyone ever thought this has been about fighting terrorism. I can only presume that if someone was so naive to think this was about terrorism before, then they may still be so clueless that they still think it’s all for terrorism. (An “bad apples” and all that.)

  2. One Day Soon I Shall Invent A Funny Login says

    Is there anyone anywhere who still thinks that all this spying is about fighting terrorism?

    Well, no of course not. But on the other hand, is it any longer possible for Snowden to claim his only interest is protecting the 4th-amendment rights of his fellow Americans? This kind of revelation, along with the disclosure last week of NSA’s supposed compromising of Chinese giant internet giant Hua-wei (sp?), do not do anything to protect Americans from their government. Mind you, I’m pleased these things are coming out. But Snowden needs to find some new basis on which to justify leaking this info.

  3. machintelligence says

    But Snowden needs to find some new basis on which to justify leaking this info.

    How about “Because he can” — the same reason that they use to justify spying.

  4. John Morales says

    Is there anyone anywhere who still thinks that all this spying is about fighting terrorism?

    I never did, if I take your question at face value.

    OTOH, “scientia potentia est“.

    </cynic>

  5. John Morales says

    One Day Soon I Shall Invent A Funny Login @2, interesting you focus on motive rather than effect.

    (I refer you to the aphorism I quoted in my previous)

  6. rsm says

    Eh, no he doesn’t. The only way he has any chance of achieving his goal is a) by keeping the scandal in news and b) somehow apply sufficient pressure to the government. Since the American public is pretty pathetic on the issue international pressure may actually work better to protect Americans from their own government.

  7. doublereed says

    Well, no of course not. But on the other hand, is it any longer possible for Snowden to claim his only interest is protecting the 4th-amendment rights of his fellow Americans? This kind of revelation, along with the disclosure last week of NSA’s supposed compromising of Chinese giant internet giant Hua-wei (sp?), do not do anything to protect Americans from their government. Mind you, I’m pleased these things are coming out. But Snowden needs to find some new basis on which to justify leaking this info.

    Snowden already gave all his information to reporters. He is not responsible for the specifics of what is released.

    Although I would disagree with that assessment anyway, because Snowden never said that his scope is that narrow. It’s not just 4th Amendment stuff, there’s the basic lack of knowledge of what our government is doing. Especially considering that America constantly takes the high road with China acting like only China does the ridiculous things that China does, when in fact America is doing so as well, possibly more. When such things are secret, they cannot be voted on because they can’t even be an issue. Transparency is essential to democracy.

  8. Chiroptera says

    Remember, too, that Snowden didn’t just reveal all that information to the public. He gave that information to journalists that he thought would be intelligent, knowledgeable, and responsible enough to use their best judgement as to what should be revealed, to what extent, and how.

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