The German secret service must explain why it handed over metadata to the NSA, a minister has said. Germany’s government claimed it was ignorant of the activity of the secret service, which was described as being “in bed with the US” by Edward Snowden.
German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger used a
newspaper interview as a platform to demand answers from the
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).
"If it is true that the BND made itself available as a tool for
the NSA in the mass gathering of data, than something urgently
needs to be done,” she said in an interview in Monday’s
edition of the Münchner Merkur newspaper. She added the BND must
finally put the facts on the table regarding its collaboration
with the American National Security Agency.
The BND confirmed the reports leaked by former CIA worker Edward
Snowden regarding the sharing of data with the NSA on
Saturday. Snowden leaked information to German publication
Der Spiegel that the NSA had received 500 pieces of data from the
BND in December of last year alone.
The BND reportedly also made use of the NSA’s XKeyScore program, which was
installed to “expand their ability to support NSA as we
jointly prosecute CT (counterterrorism) targets.”
A spokesperson from the BND told DPA news agency that all the
activities carried out were in compliance of German law. He also
claimed that all personal information was filtered out of the
data packages handed over to the US to protect the anonymity of
citizens.
Tonie Manders, the chairman of the Libertarian Party in the Netherlands, told RT that far-reaching government surveillance has already inspired enough anger among the international population to force lawmakers to reconsider their position. Germany’s Pirate Party, among other advocates, has quickly gained public acceptance.
“If you look at the kind of numbers that the Pirate Party is doing in the polls it obviously has an impact. And also, in the United States, during the presidential election of 2012 Ron Paul did very well partly because he made an issue out of the government spying on its own citizens,” Manders said. “The same thing is happening with Rand Paul, who is going to run in the 2016 presidential election. He is also making an issue out of this and is doing well in the national polls as a result.”
As for peeling back the already existing surveillance laws, Manders said, the responsibility lies with the public to defeat apathy and make an educated decision at the voting booth.
“That depends on who is in power,” he went on. “Obviously George Bush did his best to make sure that this sort of spying was actually being done a lot more rather than less and Obama has also done his best to get the government to spy on its citizens. With people like these in power, nothing is going to change; it’s only going to get worse.”
Communications breakdown?
When the scandal initially emerged, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel claimed that she had had no knowledge of the BND’s
collaboration with the NSA and said she had found out about it
through press reports.
In the face of criticism in the run up to national elections,
Merkel said that Germany was “not a surveillance state”
and German law still applied, but conceded that there were limits
in an age of global communication systems.
Thousands of Germans across the country voiced their anger at the government’s complicity in
the NSA’s spy program. Demonstrations were organized in over 40
cities, with the largest taking place in Frankfurt.
In an interview with a cipher expert released by Der Spiegel,
Snowden said that the ties between EU secret services and NSA
were specially created to “insulate” their leaders.
“Other agencies don't ask us where we got the information from
and we don't ask them. That way they can protect their top
politicians from the backlash in case it emerges how massively
people's privacy is abused worldwide,” he said.
He suggested that politicians were shielded from the illegal
methods used to gather information on citizens to protect their
political careers.
Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA’s sweeping spy programs that
it used to gather information on citizens the world over. The US
justified the programs as a necessary evil to preserve their
national security and protect against terrorism.
Washington has issued an extradition order against Edward Snowden
on charges of espionage. He is currently located in Russia, where
he has been granted temporary asylum.