Schlagwort: english

On facebook, people and pages are suddenly losing thousands of friends and followers. Particularly affected were accounts criticizing Turkey. Facebook rejects accusations of censorship and claims to be taking measures against fake accounts among followers. However the accounts in question are genuine.

The German spy agency BND developed a system to monitor the Tor network and warned federal agencies that its anonymity is „ineffective“. This is what emerges from a series of secret documents that we are publishing. The spies handed a prototype of this technology over to the NSA, in expectation of a favor in return.

On the 1st of September, netzpolitik.org is going to celebrate its 13th birthday with its „Das ist Netzpolitik!“-conference and party in Berlin. There will be a comprehensive program tackling major upcoming issues and challenges for digital rights in Germany and Europe. We warmly invite you to participate and hand in your ideas.

The „Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz“ is no longer only directed against Hate Speech and Fake News, but also against pornographic content and many other offenses. In addition, the new draft now contains a clause permitting private persons the possibility of obtaining the identity of other private individuals, which could lead to the end of anonymity on the internet.

The German Parliamentary inquiry committee set out to investigate the Snowden revelations. It failed to do that. Instead, it revealed that the German spy agency BND is also breaking the law. Yet the result is not an end of ubiquitous mass surveillance, but a massive upgrade. A comment.

The free trade agreement TiSA is a danger for the internet. New leaks we publish in cooperation with Greenpeace show clearly that privacy, net neutrality and IT security are under threat. Moreover, the US want to privatize censorship. An overview of the most important issues.

Partial victory for the opposition in the parliamentary committee of inquiry on the NSA: Snowden has to be questioned in person, ruled the German Federal Court of Justice Today. The court stopped the blockage of the government against an invitation of the Whistleblower to Germany and forces a reaction from the Federal Government.

During last week’s session, the German Parliament’s NSA Inquiry Committee tried to resolve many looming questions. Who controls and oversees the surveillance systems of intelligence agencies? What legislative progress has been made in the past years? How could we remedy the situation in the future? The answers were mostly chastening.

The German Intelligence Service BND illegally collected and stored mass surveillance data and has to delete those data immediately, including XKeyscore. This is one of the results of a classified report of the German Federal Data Protection Commissioner that we are hereby publishing. In her report, she criticizes serious legal violations and a massive restriction of her supervision authority.

For the third time already, we are hosting the „Das ist Netzpolitik!“ conference, taking place on the 7th of October at the ‚Kulturbrauerei‘ in Berlin. Ticket sales and Call for Papers have started.

Fiberglass tapping, Internet analysis, encryption cracking, computer hacking: Germany’s secret service BND is massively expanding its Internet surveillance capabilities. We publish its secret 300 million Euro investment programme „Strategic Initiative Technology“. Members of Parliament and civil society criticise the agency’s new powers and demand an end of the whopping armament programme.

If it were up to the Federal Attorney General and the President of the German Domestic Security Agency, two of our reporters would soon be in prison for at least two years. Today, we were officially informed about investigations against our Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister and an „unknown“ party. The accusation: Treason. This is an […]

Today’s interview with the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, with Markus Keßler at futurezone.at was one of the most shocking ones so far in terms of unreflected statements and the total lack of a factual foundation. Therefore we want to make it accessible not only for German speaking persons. Everyone should […]

Das "Gemeinsame Terrorismusabwehrzentrum" in Berlin-Treptow dient als Blaupause für die Pläne Europols.

The domestic secret service is setting up a new department to extend its internet surveillance capabilities, investing several million Euros. We publish the secret description for the new unit named „Extended Specialist Support Internet“. Over 75 spies are designated to monitor online chats and Facebook, create movement patterns and social network graphs and covertly „collect hidden information“.

The German Foreign Intelligence Agency Bundesnachrichtendienst taps internet traffic directly at the Internet Exchange Point DE-CIX in Frankfurt since 2009, replacing predecessor operation „Eikonal“ at Deutsche Telekom. This was stated by the operator of DE-CIX at the German Parliamentary Committee investigating Intelligence Agency mass surveillance operations. The German Federal Chancellery intervened several times and prevented […]

A German-Arab web of companies advertises a new government malware „made in Germany“ at international surveillance trade shows. In a lengthy investigation, we gathered information on companies and actors involved. It remains unclear whether the company has a finished product for sale, nevertheless they continue to promote the product – directly to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The negotiations between the U.S. and the EU on the „Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership“ (TTIP) will address e-commerce and transatlantic data flows. In this context, there are more and more indications that European data protection standards could be undermined by such a trade agreement. Civil society and consumer organisations both in the EU and […]

A hacker claims to have hacked a network of the surveillance technology company Gamma International and has published 40 gigabytes of internal data. A Twitter account has published release notes, price lists – and source code. Malware researchers and human rights activists welcome the publication, Gamma itself refuses to comment.

An anonymous hacker has reverse-engineered and published the once-secret blacklist of URLs produced by a German federal agency. He or she did this mainly out of technical curiosity – and found that it was really easy to do. The hacker hopes not go get sued for this action – and offers a general critique on secret, state-sponsored internet censorship.

What MP3, Napster and portable audio players were for the music industry, EPUB and e-book readers are for the book publishing world. Netzpolitik.org interviewed three operators of semi-legal websites for DRM-free e-books.

english

Voices Critical of Turkey mysteriously losing thousands of followers on Facebook

Secret documents: German foreign spy agency BND attacks the anonymity network Tor and advises not to use it

Call for Papers: Fight for Your Digital Rights! – “Das ist Netzpolitik!”-Conference 2017

New Hate Speech Law in Germany: Already Extended Before it Enters Into Force

Three years NSA inquiry committee: A serious investigation remains an illusion, while the mass surveillance continues.

TiSA-Leaks: Fundamental rights shall be levered out for free trade – also in the internet

Germany’s Federal Court of Justice: the parliamentary committee of enquiry on the NSA has to question Snowden in person

Snowden’s Legacy: Hearing in the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee

Secret Report: German Federal Intelligence Service BND Violates Laws And Constitution By The Dozen

3rd „Das ist Netzpolitik!“ conference 2016: Ticket sales and Call for Papers started

Strategic Initiative Technology: We Unveil the BND Plans to Upgrade its Surveillance Technology for 300 Million Euros

„Suspicion of Treason“: Federal Attorney General Announces Investigation Against Us In Addition To Our Sources

Commissioner Oettinger’s facepalm-worthy interview about data retention, copyright, net neutrality and Co.

Classified Department: We Unveil the New Unit of the German Domestic Secret Service to Extend Internet Surveillance

Parliamentary Committee: How the German Foreign Intelligence Agency BND tapped the Internet Exchange Point DE-CIX in Frankfurt, since 2009

Advanced German Technology: How a German-Arab Shell Corporation Tries to Sell New State Malware „Made in Germany“

TTIP and TiSA: big pressure to trade away privacy

Gamma FinFisher hacked: 40 GB of internal documents and source code of government malware published

Interview with BPjM-Leaker: Website Blacklists shouldn’t be done „in an intransparent way by a government“

Interviews with E-Book-Pirates: „The book publishing industry is repeating the same mistakes of the music industry“