German Big Brother scandal grows

[Will E Worm]

German officials admit using spyware on citizens, as Big Brother scandal grows

A government surveillance software scandal that erupted in Germany this weekend has spread beyond that nation's borders, raising questions about how far government officials around the globe might go to monitor citizens through spyware.

On Saturday, as reported on MSNBC.com, the German-based Chaos Computer Club announced it had examined a Trojan horse program allegedly spread by government officials to secretly spy on citizens' Internet travels, e-mail, chat and more. The software, originally intended only to help officials intercept Internet phone calls through legal wiretaps, went far beyond those permissible purposes, the hacker group alleged. The group called the government's use of the software outrageous and demanded it be destroyed immediately.

Since Saturday, new details have emerged which largely confirm suspicions raised by the hacker group. That has German officials calling for an investigation.

"Clearly the limits set by the Federal Constitutional Court have been massively violated," said Claudia Roth, co-leader of the Green Party, according to Der Spiegel's online edition

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:nono:

 

[Shindekudasai]

Gotta agree with Will E here. The German government (or at least the governments of some German states like Bavaria, that used this software) have gone too far with this. Not only e-mail accounts and chats were spyed on, that has been proven already. They allegedly also remote searched harddrives and gathered personal information about citizens. And even worse is that nobody takes the blame and everyone in government behaves like it was just a little overstep, like it was not that bad at all. In my opinion, heads should roll. This liberal-conservative CDU/FDP government we have at the moment is not just incompetent, it's dangerous.

 

[RichardNailder]

History repeats itself.

 

[SabrinaDeep]

That's because you ppl keep wasting time protesting in front of WS instead of shouting at your tel company (just an example) operator and pulling the plug with them. Stop being manipulated. Use your own brain and be "selfish" enough to complain about your daily distress. Otherwise things will only get worse. Revolutions work only when you operate on the bottom. Brainwashing makes you pretend to operate on top...and you fail. My 2 cents.

 

[Shindekudasai]

History repeats itself.

I think you slighty overdid it with this comment. The agencies and bureaus which used this software overstepped gravely, but comparing it to Nazi Germany is plain anachronistic.

 

[RichardNailder]

I think you slighty overdid it with this comment. The agencies and bureaus which used this software overstepped gravely, but comparing it to Nazi Germany is plain anachronistic.

Das glaube Ich nicht.


And who said I was referring to just one period, place or regime? :dunno:


Oh - that would be you.



And if I had to pick a German comparison to invading peoples privacy it would have been the Stasi but if you think any government is exempt from such behavior - you are sadly mistaken.

As I said, "history repeats itself" - societies are always oscillating between sacrificing liberty because of perceived threats and demanding their liberties back.