World's largest Internet exchange sues Germany over mass surveillance

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/16/ixp_sues_german_govt_surveillance/

by Sami_Lehtinen • 10 years ago

125 13 10 years ago

theregister.co.uk

sergj• 10 years ago

Has anyone more information on the german secret court referenced in the article? As a german this is my first time hearing about that.

mtmail• 10 years ago

It's said to be a new control/review committee, probably without the rule to be transparent, and hasn't been created yet. As the article says it's already deemed unconstitutional before it even started.

German source: "Die Kontrolle soll stattdessen nur noch nachlaufend durch ein neues Spezialgremium erfolgen." https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/NSA-Skandal-und-BND-...

Update: the existing control committees for G10 (article 10 of Grundgesetz = German constitution) are staffed with members of the parliament and one has to be lawyer. I don't think that makes it a court, maybe it's just a matter of translation.

German source on G10 committees https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artikel_10-Gesetz#Verfahren

dogma11382• 10 years ago

If the committee performs a judicial review which in this context I am understanding it does it is technically a "court".

mysterypie2• 10 years ago

Meanwhile in the U.S., AT&T executives have permitted mass governmental surveillance through their network for decades, even before the Patriot Act, even before national security letters. AT&T never made a single public complaint about the surveillance, and for all we know, they were eager participants.

hackuser• 10 years ago

A minor detail: The name AT&T applies to three different companies:

* 1885-1983: Generally known today as the monopoly phone company for the United States. (I don't know when the monopoly began or its geographic extent.)

* 1983-2005: Long distance company, after the breakup of the monopoly. AFAIK, it had been one small part of the much larger former monopoly.

* 2005-present: The former Southwestern Bell Corp (SBC), which bought the above company and took on its name and branding.

mysterypie2• 10 years ago

You're right that the name AT&T has undergone big changes in what it refers to, esp. with the breakup of the Bell System in 1983/1984. But the old AT&T set the culture for all of the present day phone companies in dealings with the government.

Iv• 10 years ago

Well, in Germany many people alive do remember what mass governmental surveillance entails. In Germany, STASI is not a metaphor for an abstract threat of authoritarianism. It is something that everybody born in the east before the 1990 had to deal with.

3ot• 10 years ago

It's interesting to note that DE-CIX, before filing this lawsuit, hired the former President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany Hans-Jürgen Papier, who is very respected, to evaluate the legality of BND's practice at the DE-CIX. His findings were crushing. Now going into court against the foreign-intelligence agency with the assessment of such a highly respected judge is probably the best strategy you could come up with. I wish them best luck!

hrrsn• 10 years ago

Wow. Good on DE-CIX.

World's largest Internet exchange sues Germany over mass surveillance

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