Jacob Appelbaum, a Berlin-based US journalist with access to some of Edward Snowden’s documents, claims there have been a series of raids on his apartment, saying he suspects possible US involvement.
In an interview with “Berliner Zeitung” published on Saturday he
described strange scenarios which have been haunting him.
“When I flew away for an appointment, I installed four alarm
systems in my apartment,” Appelbaum said.
“When I returned, three of them had been turned off. The
fourth, however, had registered that somebody was in my flat -
although I'm the only one with a key. Some of my effects - the
positions of which I carefully note - were indeed askew. My
computers had been turned on and off,” he added.
“The monitoring pressure has ultimately destroyed my
relationship with my girlfriend,” he mourned. The internet
activist, journalist and cybersecurity specialist is a core
member of the Tor encrypted network and has well-documented ties
to WikiLeaks.
His decision to move to Berlin was made because he considered
Germany to have better privacy protection, and because he felt
unsafe in the US after repeated detentions at American airports
following his trips abroad.
However, he suspects that he remains the subject of
investigation. “When one begins to keep a register, then the
growing frequency falls on you,” he told the paper.
“On 10 October, for example, there were two women trying to
get into my apartment. They pretended that the property
management had given them a key to enter because they wanted to
rent the apartment. I called the property management - they knew
nothing about it and had not issued a key”
Appelbaum believes that the intention behind the incidents is to
make him feel uncomfortable - so that he knows they
“care” about him “while leaving no possible
evidence.”
Appelbaum is one of the few people with access to some of the
data obtained by Snowden. Since June, Snowden has been releasing
scandalous information about the extent of NSA surveillance
practices, and in August in Berlin, Appelbaum read out Snowden's
acceptance speech when he received the Whistleblower Prize from a
group of NGOs.
He has been no stranger to problems with the law, having been
detained by US Customs multiple times and has had cell phones and
laptops seized and searched. His affiliation with hacking
collectives and WikiLeaks has made him a frequent target of
federal probes, often without any real repercussions.
In 2011 it was revealed, that the US government successfully
forced Google and Sonic, a small Internet Service Provider from
northern California, to fork over personal data from Appelbaum’s
email account.
He reiterated his commitment to internet freedoms and the right
to privacy. “It's about protecting our core values against a
totalitarian surveillance state - whether in analogue or in the
digital world,” he said.