German authorities bungle wiretaps.

Peter Kuhm peter.kuhm at plus.at
Wed Nov 6 18:35:55 EST 2002


At 12:57 06.11.02 -0800, Jay D. Dyson wrote:
>On Wed, 6 Nov 2002, Steven Soroka wrote: 
>
>> Which prompts the question, what the hell for?  Sounds like an
>> incredible abuse of power.  Do you think they have 20,000 warrants to
>> back that up?  If so, why is Germany so full of criminals?  hehehe. 
>
>        One must keep in mind that Germany keeps closer tabs on what we in
>the U.S. call "hate groups."  While Germans enjoy many of the basic
>liberties that we do (freedom of speech, freedom of association), their
>government has limitations on such when it comes to extremist political
>philosophies such as Nazism.

§ 100 a  of the German Code of Criminal Procedure regulates
legitimacy of the Surveillance of Telecommunication

http://gesetze-xxl.de/gesetze/stpo/p100a.htm (German)

you may try babelfish (as usual with a good portion of caution)
 

>        As a consequence, those who make noises about supporting such
>reactionary political views are far more likely to fall under state
>surveillance.  I'm sure that the net.surfing habits of a German citizen
>also plays a role, considering Germany's blocking of a number of sites
>across the world that are sympathetic to (or supportive of) fascism. 

only in Nordrhine-Westphalia and not yet followed by every ISP.
Several providers brought a charge against the blocking order.

>        So it's not so much a matter of Germany having more criminals, but
>that their government spends more time watching those who profess certain
>ideas that ultimately got their nation bombed to rubble in the mid-1940s.

With my bad English I translated a related paragraph of a article
in the German newspaper "Frankfurter Rundschau". Meanwhile the
URL below is dated:

-> http://www.fr-aktuell.de/fr/101/t101005.htm

--- snip ---

Frankfurter Rundschau 31.10.02

Abgehörte sollten heimlichen Lauschangriff auch noch selbst zahlen

Fehler auf der Telefonrechnung offenbart Betroffenen, dass sie überwacht 
wurden / Panne ärgert die Ermittler

Von Pitt von Bebenburg

[..]

Die Zahl der richterlich genehmigten Telefonüberwachungen war in den 
vergangenen Jahren deutlich angestiegen. Nach Angaben des 
Bundesjustizministeriums wurden im Jahr 2001 Abhöraktionen im Zusammenhang 
mit 3868 Verfahren genehmigt. Insgesamt 9122 Menschen und deren 
Telefonpartner wurden belauscht. Die Zahl der überwachten Telefonanschlüsse 
liegt deutlich darüber, da viele Menschen mehrere Apparate besitzen. In 
mehr als der Hälfte der Fälle ging es um Drogenhandel. Weitere Delikte, 
wegen derer abgehört wurde, betrafen den Handel mit Kriegswaffen und 
Raub-Straftaten. Hinzu kommen die Abhöraktionen der Geheimdienste. Nach 
Angaben des Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremiums belauschte das Bundesamt für 
Verfassungsschutz von Juli 2000 bis Juni 2001 bis zu 247 Menschen.

--- snap ---

--- snip ---

Frankfurter Rundschau 31.10.02

Eavesdropped to pay their secret bugging operation by themself

Error on phone bill reveals surveillance action to the persons
concerned with / mishap annoys investigators

From: Pitt von Bebenburg

[..]

The number of court ordered phone tappings increased clearly over
the last years. According to the Federal Ministry of Justice in 2001
surveillance actions were approved  in connection with 3868 legal
proceedings. Altogether 9122 people and their phone partners
were eavesdropped. The number of tapped subscriber lines lies
distinctly beyond because many people own more phones. More
than half of the cases are concerned with drug trafficking.
Other offences that justify eavesdropping were trafficking of
war weapons and robbery crimes. Surveillance actions of secret
services are to be added. According to the parliamentary control
body the Office for the Protection of the Constitution listens in on
up to 247 people within July 2000 and June 2001.

--- snap ---

Peter


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