In Germany, a country with a long, troubled history of state
surveillance, the revelation that British and American intelligence
agencies have been spying en masse on European data communications has
not gone over easily.
Last Friday, London's
Guardian newspaper published the contents
of leaked documents confirming that Britain's Government Communications
Headquarters (GCHQ) and the American National Security Agency (NSA) have
been tapping directly into fiber-optic cables to collect vast stores of
information that they can then access as needed. Among these cables was
the TAT-14, which carries a large share of data communication in and
out of Germany, the German daily
Süddeutsche Zeitung and public radio station NDR reported on Tuesday after viewing documents leaked by
whistleblower Edward Snowden.
According to media reports, neither the German government nor the
country's foreign intelligence service, the BND, was apparently aware of
the British surveillance operation, dubbed "Tempora," which was
reportedly made possible with the cooperation of two telecommunications
companies: Vodafone and British telecoms giant BT. Vodafone released a
statement saying it abides by the laws of the countries in which it
operates, but it declined to give further information, citing "national
security." BT has refused to comment.
The ongoing surveillance controversy, which began last month following the disclosure of the NSA's Prism program, has been
a heated topic in Germany, where the massive state surveillance of Communist East Germany is still present in the memories of many citizens.
The disclosures have spurred
public debate about data protection,
terrorism and changing notions of
privacy in the Internet era.
Concerns over the revelations about the NSA's activities threatened to
overshadow US President Obama's visit to Berlin last week. And Snowden,
the former NSA contractor who is now wanted by the American government
on charges of espionage, is viewed almost uniformly here as a hero.
On Tuesday, German commentators reacted to the newest disclosures
about the extent of surveillance on German communications. While some
acknowledged the need for a degree of secrecy and surveillance, most
insisted that the American and British intelligence agencies had
overstepped their boundaries and were infringing on the civil liberties
of German citizens.
Conservative daily
Die Welt writes:
"Those in power -- not just for moral and ethical reasons, but also
for reasons of efficiency -- must step in and do that which they find
most difficult: They must exercise moderation and self-discipline. Since
Sept. 11, 2001, standards have vanished in the US even as they have
been strengthened elsewhere, such as in Germany. ... Such standards have
to be reintroduced first and foremost via strict laws that are strong
enough to win back trust, but also through parliamentary and public
control and a reasonable analysis of costs and benefits."
"What may the state do and where does it need to control itself? And
to what extent is it justifiable and democratically legitimate to ask
citizens to abandon digital self-determination? The technical
possibilities reach much further than do our moral capabilities."
Left-leaning
Berliner Zeitung writes:
"The hero in this drama is undoubtedly Edward Snowden, this eloquent
30-year-old who is obviously equipped with a fine moral compass, as he
has risked his entire future to uncover the activities of these
intelligence agencies. ... The scale of the revelation is to some extent
still unclear. First, there is the shocking invasion into the private
spheres of billions of people and the abuse of the civil rights of large
swaths of the global population. ... But the question remains under
what rules a world is functioning, if every communication can be quite
legally monitored on the basis of stricter terrorism laws."
Center-right
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"The citizens of a democratic state must have confidence that certain
agreed to rules are also adhered to. These days, 'data protection' is
treated more like a bureaucratic chore, and not something that pertains
to human dignity. But there is also an internationally guaranteed right
to privacy and to the protection of the core area of our private lives
against arbitrary interference by the state. ... This applies in
particular to Continental Europe and especially Germany, which has had
extensive experience with totalitarian regimes and where the East German
Stasi on any given day opened more than 100,000 letters and packages."
"The German government has done well to begin by asking for an
explanation from the involved parties, which now includes the British,
who are, after all, bound by European law. It would certainly be naïve
to expect complete openness. And the fact, pointed out by Obama, that
attacks have been thwarted by the surveillance programs, even here in
Germany, is certainly in some cases a good justification. But when the
fundamental rights of German and European citizens are being
comprehensively infringed on, it is a matter of course to ask that
certain standards be adhered to."
Business daily
Handelsblatt writes:
"US politicians are furious. They say that the revelations damage
their country. And that is true. Just not quite in the way they claim.
The conduct of their secret service agencies hurts the US much more than
does Snowden. The surveillance regime destroys that which is referred
to as America's 'soft power:' the magnetism of the ideals that the
country embodies. America's superpower status is not based solely on its
military might and the power of economic sanctions. Rather, it is also
based on the allure of freedom and civil rights."
"The Bush era left behind deep cracks in this pillar of power. Obama
wanted to repair the damage, but his efforts are rendered moot by the
data siphoning system. Instead of expending so much energy on trying to
drag Snowden into a court of law, America should focus on this simple
question: Do the costs of the way it hunts terrorists exceed the
benefits?"
Center-left
Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"Sept. 11, 2001, deeply changed the United States. The fear of new
terrorist acts still haunts most people and virtually all of those
responsible in Washington. In their view, the NSA's boundless spying is
necessary. The people are prepared to forfeit some of their beloved
freedom in exchange for the feeling of greater security."
"But governments do not have the right to conceal broad lines of
policy. President Obama is operating according to an odd maxim: I am
doing a lot of the same things that George W. Bush did, but you can
trust me because I am the one doing it. Not even Obama is deserving of
that much trust."
"There are three lessons that can be drawn from the Snowden case.
America, but also some of its allies, are keeping too much under
surveillance, keeping too much secret and they haven't found an
appropriate means for dealing with those who expose such excesses. There
is something deeply wrong when a whistleblower has to rely on the
goodwill of China or Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa to find safe
haven."
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