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Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

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Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The liberals are very vocal about privacy and interfering of the state in the people's affairs. They just don't do a very good job making people aware of these positions...

Or fighting for those positions.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has been pretty consistent, though.

If it weren't for their neo-liberal/laissez-faire approach to economics, I'd consider voting for them...

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#112
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Germans are pissed (We take privacy serious [1]). They're expecting the EU and chancellor Merkel to do something or she's going to have a really tough time being re-elected in the fall. How is this affecting the Pirates' poll ratings? If they hold the balance of power in the Bundestag, it's likely the next German government would have to do something.

Piratenpartei now is at 3% instead of 2%. :-/ (You need 5% to enter the Bundestag.)

60% there then.

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#113
post #57

This would be a good opportunity for Germany/EU to give Snowden asylum, if only to show US that they screwed up so much, it's EU itself, their ally, who will give him asylum.

He would only stand a chance for asylum in Germany if he classifies as under political repression. Application in an embassy is not possible. If he would manage to come to Germany he could not be extradited if there is a real risk of torture or death penalty.

Depending on whether the German government thinks it's worth the hassle, I think a reasonably good case could be made that he does indeed qualify for political asylum. Especially since this article suggests the US sees itself in the middle a cold war with the EU/Germany (...of all places. One would think that China is the enemy, but apparently one would be wrong).

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#114
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't get the media attention (if they are doing something at all). My biggest fear is that the Liberals (FDP) gain votes through this...

Why would the FDP profit from this? AFAIK they never positioned themselves in favor of privacy. I think the green party (Bündnis 90 / Die Grüne) will profit considerably more from this. They are know promoters of privacy and personal rights. "Die Linke" could also profit from this.

> "Die Linke" could also profit from this.

That would be a bit ironic, given that Die Linke includes former PDS.

(for those not following German politics: PDS was "Party for Democratic Socialism", formed from the remains of the old "SED" - Socialist Unity Party, better known as the ruling party of DDR and originators of Stasi)

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#115
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not because our Pirate Party is only known for drama and the media portrays them as an disorganized bunch of kids who fight over internal power. Not that the media would be particularly wrong with this. When the party was founded I had some hopes ... now I have given up on them.

That reads like you have simply bought in to the media smearing. Sound familiar? See here in the UK, our media represent the whole of the EU like that. Don't give up, get involved.

Unfortunately it is not just media smear. In Germany we have at the moment roughly ten percent of the electorate who are deeply future shocked and are just random walking around the political landscape. ( They did push the FDP to 14% in the last parliament election, pushed the Greens to win the Baden Wuerttemberg election and voted the Berlin Pirates to 13% two years ago. ) And some of these guys did overrun the original pirate party.

For example, they did recreate a lot of the problems voting machines have with their 'liquid feedback' system, and when called out on that answered that they do not know, but since 1337 pirate party instead of evil(TM) Diebold suggested it, there is surely a way. ( And to rant a bit, at their last party convention they did petition that the parliament publishes their schedule on the INTERNET, which the parliament of course does. But there is no one left in the pirates who is able to google.)

So by now I tend to think of the German pirate party as the party of cargo cult modern, in the sense that modern does not mean a opinion informed by deep technical understanding, but modern in the sense of the latest Techcrunsh fad, independent if that is Instagram, Stasibook or Anonymous.

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#117
post #47
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ziel is literally a target, but in truth it translates as "destination". "Angriffsziel" could be translated as "target" in this sense, so Stephan is not wrong - but perhaps soft-pedaling a little. Where you're right is that "Angriff" ("attack") makes "Angriffsziel" sufficiently explicit in its connotation of a military target. I'd consider "target of attack" in that "Angriff" doesn't necessarily connote a military at…

Ziel is both, it can mean target and destination. In that case, it is more of a target (attack destination? na, the NSA is not currently in an airplane flying into battle). > Maybe "country of interest"? Yeah maybe, but that sounds a bit harmless, doesn't it?

It does sound harmless, which is why it's the Orwell-approved nomenclature. In fifty years it won't sound at all harmless, and there will be a new euphemism.

"Attack destination" made me smile. The English word destination doesn't work like that, but maybe it should.

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#119
post #57

This would be a good opportunity for Germany/EU to give Snowden asylum, if only to show US that they screwed up so much, it's EU itself, their ally, who will give him asylum.

You are operating under the assumption that our politicians didn't know about this before. There's a really really low chance this is true.

It's much more plausible that everyone has been spying on everyone else and countries with restrictions regarding spying on their own citizens have backroom deals to get access to intelligence via other nations.

To give an example how tight the relations are between the US and Germany, start reading how our secret service came to be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehlen_Organization

Re: Secret Documents: NSA monitored 500 million connections in Germany

#120
post #2

Original (this is on the front page of Spiegel today): http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/nsa-ueberwacht-50... This was also posted yesterday (was on yesterday's front page of Spiegel): http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/nsa-hat-wanzen-in... Article says that the NSA used bugs to spy on EU offices. Both articles, the comments of SPON (SPiegel ONline): Germans are pissed (We take privacy serious [1]).…

> Germans are pissed (We take privacy serious [1]). They're expecting the EU and chancellor Merkel to do something or she's going to have a really tough time being re-elected in the fall. How is this affecting the Pirates' poll ratings? If they hold the balance of power in the Bundestag, it's likely the next German government would have to do something.

The Pirate party in Germany has become such a sad display of juvenile trolling, aggressive genderism and political incompetence that I doubt their numbers will increase.
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