[Cryptography] German investigation says the NSA probably didn't tap Merkel's phone after all

[Jerry Leichter]

On Apr 11, 2015, at 7:25 PM, Andreas Junius <andreas.junius at gmail.com> wrote:
> I can't read that from the article you mentioned. It says "...has found no evidence that the tapping ever occurred. ..."
> 
> Not finding evidence is a different matter than finding (evidence) that something did not happen.
So if a newspaper runs a story saying that an anonymous informant says that you, Andreas Junius, personally wiretapped Angela Merkel ... we must believe it thereafter?  What evidence can you produce that it *didn't* happen?

This is how conspiracy theories begin and grow.  No amount of "proof" is ever enough.

Did the NSA tap Angela Merkel's phone?  Did it tap François Hollande's?  Damned if I know - but in Merkel's case we have a newspaper report citing an anonymous source (people have assumed it was Snowden, but the newspaper has never actually said it was) versus the apparent results of an investigation, and in Hollande's case we have ... nothing.  If I were forced to bet one way or the other, I'd bet on Hollande.  (Actually, if I had a choice among Merkel, Hollande, and Netanyahu, I'd bet on Netanyahu hands down.  Many more surprises to be gained from listening in to his phone calls than the other two combined.)

                                                        -- Jerry