Snowden: Der Spiegel Interview. Sunday Cover. Germany and the NSA

[Catherina]

7 July 2013

Snowden Der Spiegel Interview



Article in German: http://cryptome.org/2013/07/snowden-spiegel-13-0707.pdf

Related article in German: http://cryptome.org/2013/07/snowden-spiegel-13-0707-2.pdf

English translation provided by A: http://pastebin.com/zVC14byX
Translation of Der Spiegel Magazine article, July 7, 2013:

Just before Edward Snowden became a world famous whistleblower, he answered an extensive catalog of questions. These came from, amongst others, Jacob Appelbaum, 30, a developer of encryption and security software. Appelbaum educates international human rights groups and journalists on how to work with the Internet in safe and anonymous way.

...

Question: Are German authorities or politicians involved in the monitoring system ?

Snowden: Yes of course. They (the NSA people -- ed.) are in cahoots with the Germans, as well as with the most other Western countries. We (in the U.S. intelligence apparatus -- ed.) warn the others, when someone we want to catch, uses one of their airports - and they then deliver them to us. The information on this, we can for example pull off of the monitored mobile phone of a suspected hacker’s girlfriend -- who used it in an entirely different country which has nothing to do with the case. The other authorities do not ask us where (we) got the leads, and we do not ask them anything either. That way, they can protect their political staff from any backlash if it came out how massive the global violation of people’s privacy is.

Question: But now as details of this system are revealed, who will be put before a court over this?

Snowden: Before U.S. courts? You're not serious, are you? When the last large wiretapping scandal was investigated - the interception without a court order, which concerned millions of communications - that should really have led to the longest prison sentences in world history. However, then our highest representatives simply stopped the investigation. The question, who is to be accused, is theoretical, if the laws themselves are not respected. Laws are meant for people like you or me - but not for them.

...

Question: Did the NSA help to write the Stuxnet program? (the malicious program used against the Iranian nuclear facilities -- ed.)

Snowden: The NSA and Israel wrote Stuxnet together.

Question: What are the major monitoring programs active today, and how do international partners help the NSA?

Snowden: The partners in the "Five Eyes" (behind which are hidden the secret services of the Americans, the British, the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians -- ed.) sometimes go even further than the NSA people themselves. Take the Tempora program of the British intelligence GCHQ for instance. Tempora is the first "I save everything" approach ("Full take&quot in the intelligence world. It sucks in all data, no matter what it is, and which rights are violated by it. This buffered storage allows for subsequent monitoring; not a single bit escapes. Right now, the system is capable of saving three days’ worth of traffic, but that will be optimized. Three days may perhaps not sound like a lot, but it's not just about connection metadata. "Full take" means that the system saves everything. If you send a data packet and if makes its way through the UK, we will get it. If you download anything, and the server is in the UK, then we get it. And if the data about your sick daughter is processed through a London call center, then ... Oh, I think you have understood.

...

http://cryptome.org/2013/07/snowden-spiegel-13-0707-en.htm

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with US President Barack Obama Wednesday and agreed to a "high-level meeting" between US and German security officials in the coming days to address intelligence matters.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130707-snowden-says-western-states-bed-with-nsa

[hr]
And while we're at it

71.4% of Americans believe #Snowden should receive asylum: http://www.usnews.com/polls/should-foreign-countries-provide-asylum-to-edward-snowden/results.html … #WikiLeaks #Assange #NSA

[kentuck]

1. Now it's getting into some heavy shit...

"Question: Did the NSA help to write the Stuxnet program? (the malicious program used against the Iranian nuclear facilities -- ed.)

Snowden: The NSA and Israel wrote Stuxnet together.

Question: What are the major monitoring programs active today, and how do international partners help the NSA?

Snowden: The partners in the "Five Eyes" (behind which are hidden the secret services of the Americans, the British, the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians -- ed.) sometimes go even further than the NSA people themselves. Take the Tempora program of the British intelligence GCHQ for instance. Tempora is the first "I save everything" approach ("Full take&quot in the intelligence world. It sucks in all data, no matter what it is, and which rights are violated by it. This buffered storage allows for subsequent monitoring; not a single bit escapes. Right now, the system is capable of saving three days’ worth of traffic, but that will be optimized. Three days may perhaps not sound like a lot, but it's not just about connection metadata. "Full take" means that the system saves everything. If you send a data packet and if makes its way through the UK, we will get it. If you download anything, and the server is in the UK, then we get it. And if the data about your sick daughter is processed through a London call center, then ... Oh, I think you have understood. "

=============

I would not want to be in Snowden's shoes. He's telling the secrets on all of them now.

[starroute]

2. Sweden is the sixth member of the "Five Eyes"

According to Pirate Party co-founder Rick Falkvinge:

http://falkvinge.net/2013/07/07/documents-sweden-wiretapping-russias-international-traffic-for-the-nsa/

Earlier documents put in context with recent revelations show that Sweden has been systematically wiretapping Russia on behalf of the United States. This is clear after putting a number of previous questionable agreements and developments in context today. The question that remains is what Sweden gets in return. . . .

We know since the Echelon debate that the key players in the NSA wiretapping network are known to be five countries – the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Early 2007, reports surfaced in media that Sweden would get access to U.S. information and security research through an “exclusive agreement”, where Sweden would be “the sixth country”. This was a very conspicuous wording, but makes sense in context. According to the media reports, the agreement between Sweden and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would be signed “late March”.

At the same time, a horrible piece of legislation had appeared in Sweden. Known as the FRA law, it allowed and mandated wiretapping of everything if it happened to cross Sweden’s borders at some point – web surfing, phone calls, mail, video conferences, the works. It was a violation of constitutionally and conventionally guaranteed privacy rights on every conceivable level. It changed the standard from “you have a right to expectation of privacy” to “for all intents and purposes, you are always wiretapped”.

There were huge protests against the wiretapping law at the time, in no small amount coordinated by myself and other pirate activists. With the administration having a very narrow parliamentary majority, the media drama logic was perfect. Unfortunately, the administration won, and the law passed – but I’ve learned since that the protests outside Parliament on that day really shook the administration to the core. To no avail, unfortunately.

[Catherina]

3. I can't imagine what it's like to be so young and have the global 1% after you

NSA should have know that by hiring hackers to go after other nations, it was only a matter of time before one of them went after NSA.

[allin99]

6. he's either got the biggest cojones on the planet or is absolutely mad.

[kentuck]

12. Scared shitless...

would be my bet.

[Amonester]

10. Did he give them the 'evidence' to back up his answer?

"wrote Stuxnet together"

I don't know where is his 'evidence' so I question his answers...

[kardonb]

18. snowden

all, this little snit is trying to do is to cause as much trouble as he can , AND STAY IN THE NEWS . Cheap publicity , and free flights all over the place .

[kentuck]

19. If he knew nothing...

All those countries, including the US, would not be so concerned about catching him.

[allin99]

4. No wonder they're grounding planes, this guy is toast, i think he has a death wish...

sometimes i feel like i get what he's doing, and sometimes i don't. Sometimes i wish him luck, and sometimes i don't. It's all over my head, that's all i can say.

He's going to be dead soon.

[Cleita]

5. You'd better believe it.

And the 1% are above the law. If you fall into their crosshairs, they can get you. I believe Dominick Dunne wrote about it in one of his gossipy novels some years ago. It was about a woman who fell afoul of a very wealthy, old family in Southern California and what they did to destroy her reputation, her and then get her killed all with no consequences because they were too rich to be brought to justice. Since he used to hobnob with the rich and famous, I believe he was taking his fiction from real life.

[Jerry442]

11. Actually, the Powers That Be may realize that a martyred Snowden is worse for them. nt

[kentuck]

14. Good point.

Very good point.

[TeeYiYi]

7. k+r Excellent post! ..nt

TYY

[think]

8. K&R /nt

[Katashi_itto]

9. K&R

[NealK]

13. Catherina you're wonderful!

[WillyT]

15. K & R !!!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Angela got some splainin' to do. As does Obama to Angela. K&R

Not to mention CYA.

[Amonester]

21. As does Harper, Cameron, Hollande et al.

Ever heard of the G8?

"If one or more member countries of the G8 is or are Under sudden attack, all of them are, so all of them have a responsibility to counter-attack."

[marions ghost]

17. K&R

---

[cantbeserious]

20. Thank You For Sharing More Details About The Global Citizen Surveillance Program

eom

[sabrina 1]

22. I hope the NSA is on this and has collected and stored any communications

leading up to this meeting:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with US President Barack Obama Wednesday and agreed to a "high-level meeting" between US and German security officials in the coming days to address intelligence matters.

[cprise]

23. K&R