Two journalists at the prominent German news website Netzpolitik are under investigation for treason after publishing details about the planned expansion of the German Secret Service’s Internet surveillance program.
On Wednesday, the organization received a letter from the Federal Attorney General of Germany confirming ongoing investigations against reporters Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister (pictured), and an “unknown source” for the articles, one of which was published in February and detailed a secret budget plan for surveillance activities, and another, from April, describing a new surveillance unit for monitoring social networking and online chats. Meister has characterized the plans as being part of Germany’s “post-Snowden” internet surveillance push.
Netzpolitik, which reports on politics and technology, learned within the last several weeks that Federal Attorney General of Germany was investigating the stories, but believed its sources were the target of the investigation rather than its journalists, Meister said in an interview. Only yesterday did it became clear that Meister and Beckedahl were also under investigation.
“This is a direct attack on freedom of the press, such as hasn’t been the case in around 50 years in Germany, since the ‘Spiegel scandal’ in 1962,'” Meister told The Intercept, citing an incident in which the German newsweekly Der Spiegel was searched and some of its journalists were arrested on treason accusations stemming from an article questioning the preparedness of West German armed forces.
“These charges are an intimidation against media and against potential sources — which are an integral part of investigative journalism,” he added. “The public needs whistleblowers to find out about what’s done in their name and with their money. So the original investigations against our sources were already a direct attack on freedom of press and freedom of information.”
The attorney general’s letter cites a section of the German penal code that states:
Whosoever … allows a state secret to come to the attention of an unauthorised person or to become known to the public in order to prejudice the Federal Republic of Germany or benefit a foreign power and thereby creates a danger of serious prejudice to the external security of the Federal Republic of Germany, shall be liable to imprisonment of not less than one year.
Meister railed against the implication that he or his publication have attacked the German state, saying that, as part of a “fourth pillar” in German society, their job is to “dig deep, investigate, and provide the public with information that has not previously been public … providing the public — and thus the sovereign — with information for public debate that’s integral for informed consent.”
“Germany won’t be invaded because of our reporting,” he added. “On the other hand, one could argue that the pervasive mass surveillance of the digital world is an attack on the basic freedoms of a free society. Without privacy, there can be no freedom of thought and freedom of association without a protected, un-invaded private space. We want to enable a public debate about these integral issues.”
The charges have generated significant attention in Germany. A public demonstration has been organized in support of Netzpolitik, and today they received high-level support when the Heiko Maas, the German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, expressed doubts to the Attorney General that journalists intended to harm Germany or aid a foreign power.
Asked if Netzpolitik would continue to report using materials gained from whistleblowers, Meister replied, “That’s our job, so of course we will continue to report about publicly relevant information, which obviously includes information from whistleblowers from state and private entities. As a matter of fact, just [yesterday] we have exposed the new ‘cyber strategy’ of the German Federal Military ‘Bundeswehr’ about offensive cyber attacks.”
“If anything, all the support is showing that we must be doing the right thing, so we will continue what we do and maybe even step up the pace. … To paraphrase a Google engineer after yet another NSA leak: ‘Fuck those guys!'”
For the latest: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/landesverrat-affaere-justizminister-maas-feuert-generalbundesanwalt-range-1.2595895
Oh, and for the two or three of you out there who don’t speak German, what the headline says is that Justice Minister Mass fires General Federal Attorney Range. Would that happen in the US if some high level Justice Department Official threatened to prosecute a journalist for leaks? I think not. Yes, indeed, the Stasi state exists, but it’s on the west side of the Atlantic.
East Germany won after all.
Isn’t it perfectly logical to assume that a government that outlaws questioning of the holocaust would also outlaw investigative journalism of any description?
This turns out to be just the misguided statements of a single individual. At the highest levels of the German government, he has no support, and both the Justice Minister and Chancellor have now spoken out against him. Sorry, folks, you can’t rant against the Germans on this one, much as you’d like to.
“This is a direct attack on freedom of the press, such as hasn’t been the case in around 50 years in Germany, since the ‘Spiegel scandal’ in 1962,’”
Really? And all the while after 1962 the East was doing nothing on their side? They brought in a lot of baggage that is conveniently forgotten, and one of them is their current cartel boss.
Germans have a worse genetic disorder than even those Australians who have descended from robbers and thieves. No other race has killed so many people, unless we now allow ISIS the liberty to overtake them.
Someone please educate me. How did Nazism begin? Where did the road to Dachau begin?
It began where the sewers of Berlin ended, being created by high intensity directed nanorays of protons, neutrons and electrons of digested long-chain organic molecules discharged through expandable orifices. The four-letter word that describes this evades my memory.
“Sewers”. “Orifices”. Just the language a true mother of all Sewers of Berlin would speak. BTW, how many pregnant mothers’ bellies did you aim your device at lately? Got off doing it? Bet you did.
I’m writing from the perspective of someone fed up with shadow governments making up rules expressly for the purpose of avoiding what you’re trying to say, so it’s tough for me to adopt a view that doesn’t support the journalist.
The revelations from Snowden have had a liberating effect on governments. Rather than try and hide their true nature, they are now embracing it. After all, isn’t any form expression which contradicts, or simply fails to reinforce, the government’s message, an act of treason? In the past, the German government would have meekly tried to pretend it hadn’t read the accusations of these journalists. Now they have the confidence to confront them, although the government may ultimately lose its nerve and back down in this case. But the government now understands that nothing has a right to oppose it, so it will grow bolder over time. The oppression of the government by the people can not endure forever.
I too have been annoyed by how these revelations in some ways probably wouldn’t have had the same impact on people and perhaps people in government, if such revelations were to become a scandal 10 or 20 years into the future.
Instead, powers at be can today spin it and come up with excuses and presumably brush it all off, legalize it all, without having to loose sleep.
As we say in Germany, our government sees the Snowden revelations as a feasibility study.
The biggest problem is nit mentioned in the article.
The German governement pushed forward the Vorratsdatenspeicherung (keeping the metadata saved at the telecos for an certain amount of time including location data at internet access). By this law, law enforcement may only access the data in cases of severe crimes. Treason is defined as on if them. So in this case the journalists’ data could be looked at even though it isnt clear yet whether the files published and the journalists’s intention would justify an investigation for treason.
This should clearly show that not only the common evil terrorist may be targeted by the Vorratsdatenspeicherung.
It could also explain the timing.
German media is not a complete sellout like their U.S. counterpart. I am curious as to how this unfolds
Also, where is Angie now that we most need her. Wasn’t she saying the U.S. was the Stasi of the world?
RCL
She grew up in East Germany. She hit all the right anti-totlitarian notes in her ascent to and eventual consolidation of power just like Barack who was “turned” inside the first year. Once the revelations came out as you said Merkels first reaction was the genuine one we might expect given her roots and the breadth and extent of NSAs intrusiveness. Yet the leader of one of the strongest economies in the world was “turned” in 18 months give or take. And Merkel is not just any leader in the context the NSA FBI worldwide conspiracy (insert everyone the work with here) to violate the human rights of everyone on the effing planet given Germanys uniquely indelible place in history. Must have had one of those “everything you thought you knew ‘need to know’ briefings”
Quite a disguise this guy has going!
No one will ever recognize him.
So first Merkel and her NSA enforcers scuttle every legitimate ongoing German investigation into all the serial willful criminal incursions by the US Secular
Cyber Caliphate, Germanys Nouveau Stasi and their private sector adherents…
1. http://m.spiegel.de/international/a-975917.html#spRedirectedFrom=www&referrrer=https://duckduckgo.com/
2. https://search.wikileaks.org/?s=1&q=Germany+&sort=0
3. http://leaksource.info/?s=Germany&submit=Search
…and then move directly on to intimidate the free German Press. Is it Springtime for Merkel and Germany or just another Long Hot Summer? How long can it really be until the German Equivalent of Showtime starts producing “Fatherland”
Now lets take a quick look at this little gem here. To whom should the excerpt below apply most readily 1. Laura Poitras 2. Jacob Appelbaum 3. german reporters with the occasional scoop (as in the case Morgans written about today or 4. THE TENS OF THOUSANDS of Germans and American NSA BND employees and their subcontractors who are violating the constitutional and human rights of hundreds of millions of German and American people billions of times a day. Remember for the purposes of rereading here The United States of America is the Foreign Power.
WHOSOEVER … allows a state secret to come to the attention of an unauthorised person or to become known to the public in order to prejudice the Federal Republic of Germany or benefit a Foreign Power and thereby creates a danger of serious prejudice to the external security of the Federal Republic of Germany, shall be liable to imprisonment of not less than one year.
The war on journalists and whistleblowers finally arrives in germany.
With this investigation instigated by the attorney general against the authors of Netzpolitik.org germany is now following the undemocratic path of its transatlantic partner. The legally untenable decision by the Atorney General Harald Range is obviously politically motivated. The journalists of Netzpolitik.org did a great job covering the Bundestag Committee of Inquiry into the National Security Agency.
Since the Snowden revelations in the summer of 2013, germany is witnessing an absurd crisis management of the Federal Government: The cover-up of NSA / BND spy cooperation and the trivialization of the global total surveillance by the NSA / GCHQ.
The deeper implications behind the global monitoring structures: the anchoring of the US surveillance in German law after the 2nd World War, the so-called “war on terror”, the NSA’s and CIA’s 9/11 Cover-Up and the problem of so-called sting operations.
https://machtelite.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/netzpolitik-org-der-krieg-gegen-whistleblower-und-journalisten-hat-begonnen/
Indeed, I congratulate netzpolitik.org. To be taken seriously by the adversary is an accolade. Maybe things get unstuck now and some real opposition grows out of this.
This sort of crap is nothing new in Germany:
https://www.taz.de/Ermittlungen-gegen-netzpolitikorg/!5220698/
The only freedom left in the West will be the “right” to draw Muhammad cartoons. Speech, journalism, association, privacy,… weggegangen!
Yeah, there you have it. When they all gathered in Paris, hypocrites, I had to fight a real urge to retch. Next thing you know, UK prime minister goes all fascist (no communication the state can’t understand!? if that’s not fascist, do we have to wait for him to take it out on immigrants to call fascism fascism? oh wait, they do that too, but no camps yet mercifully) and no outrage, no reaction, not on air and not on the streets. And so predictible too, they were all so palpably happy they were practically dancing on the victims’ graves. Each of them had to be the first to “condemn” the attack on freedom of expression while planning to eradicate freedom of expression.
I mean “wannabe fascist” of course, as the real thing is something different altogether, the more organised the more dangerous.
Hi Unu –
I hear you. Oh, yes, Cameron and all the rest falling in line with the NSA and “collect it all” is disgusting. And the migrant crisis —- well, that is another story, I guess, and my heart breaks sometimes for those people.
I saw down this that you’re from Germany. Please keep us updated about this. You become aware of stories like this, but without some followups they can get lost as more and more abuses come to light. Sigh.
Oh. Nice to see your reply. I travel to the UK quite often (have you heard about their insane and medieval RIPA law, btw?) hence the jab at the Cameron junta, even though strictly speaking I should be criticising the incompetent officials of my own country. I also work with people who protect refugees, which should explain my visceral disdain of any politics premised on the idea that anyone’s life should be further fucked up by unjust laws just because they have had the bad judgment of being born in a crisis zone. Off topic, granted. Back to the matter at hand:
No visible new developments in the netzpolitik.org case, but some moderately well-known commentators (as cited on blog.fefe.de) posted an analysis relating it to the new and unconstitutional data retention law (btw approved by a member of cabinet who promised he’d oppose it). Here comes:
-> charges of treason allow authorities to legally access that data. <-
Legally until the law is declared void once more by our constitutional court, that is. But who cares about civil rights? I digress again …
This hypothesis would explain the weird timing. I mean, why now? Why not when the documents were first published? Why not attack "Der Spiegel" again?
a) they're trying to crush a genuinely fresh opposition media outlet. this is certainly part of it. but it begs the question. why now?
b) they don't think of the Snowden documents as legally actionable, as the failure of Range to act against the NSA's collaborators shows.
c) they're going after the sources of netzpolitik.org, who must be insiders, and think data retention comes in handy.
The more I think about it, the more I become convinced this could be in line with their way of thinking. But it's just a hypothesis till now.
Germany is a multi-party democracy, with regional parties too I believe. If the reporter sees this, or if anyone else knows, are there parties which oppose this surveillance state in Germany?
I’m from Germany. Yes, and these are the parties I vote for, and all of my friends vote for. Sadly, it doesn’t make a dent in the polls. Damn sheeple!!!
Well, then we are at least two…
But teaching Generation Facebook that surveillance is a bad thing is a major pain in the lower back. “I have nothing to hide” is a die-hard expression.
What upsets me most with the press here is that the scandal they concentrate on is that someone dares to touch journalists. The real scandal is that all the secret agencies undermine democracy–and nobody cares.
You’re right to say that the shameless impunity of evil secret services, and public apathy, are the real scandal.
It’s not just the facebook victims, although those are amongst the worst. I don’t know where all that apathy comes from. I have dubbed this phenomenon — not to stand up for your right to privacy — “surveillance masochism”. It seems like an apt term, on a phenomenological level.
The netzpolitik.org affair is a good opportunity to strengthen the opposition by making the emperor look naked. Yes it’s pathetic that nothing has changed since 2013, but sometimes one needs something like this to drive that point home.
The irony isn’t lost with me either as the only guys who could seriously be accused of conspiracy and treason are … need I spell it out? Yes, their political protectors too. All the way to the top. Just like Bush and co. are guilty of war crimes and what else, and everyone knows this and the news channels continue to babble of “western values”.
There are several parties in opposition to the new surveillance state ideas of the grand coalition:
* Die Linke (left socialist party)
* Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (green party)
* Piratenpartei (pirate party)
* FDP (liberal party)
The liberal party and green party cannot be trusted thoroughly as both are the usual coalition candidates for CDU and SPD in absence of the grand coalition.
Due to the excellent federal justice minister Mrs. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the FDP was able to withstand an introduction of the “Vorratsdatenspeicherung” within the last legislative. Her insistent refusal of such mass surveillance system made parlamentarians of both coalition parties simmer with rage. I do not think this will happen ever again in case of a new coalition between both parties. The FDP would sell off everything to gain power.
The Green Party was responsible for a number of security laws as well, like:
– dragnet investigations
– data gathering from telcos, banks and airlines to strenthen the Federal Criminal Agency and Secret Service
– shooting hijacked airplanes down (this law was later renderes as unconstitutional)
– biometric passports including fingerprints (fingerprints were later turned down by SPD).
Now they are rendering themselves as pioneers of freedom.
The Pirate Party has no real chance to gain influence at the moment. The whole NSA scandal took place in the media without any lasting visible appearance of the party’s members. This exceptional decline in media presence is very tragic as this scandal had been their biggest opportunity to show capability.
Finally, the left party is all for civic rights but is not trusted by the majority of the population due to its ancestor’s history in the DDR (SED party). This has become an unfair punishment in my opinion because most of the left politicians never had anything to do with governing the DDR and almost everybody acknowledges the hostile politics of the past.
Sorry for my mistake:
Due to the excellent federal justice minister Mrs. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the FDP was able to withstand an introduction of the “Vorratsdatenspeicherung” during the last legislative period.
Federal Attorney General has canceled (or better paused) the investigation today as he explained in interview with FAZ
Canceled? Far from it. That clown has requested an expert review that will find whether the material in question is really a state secret or not.
case yes) the farce goes on and the state looks real stupid
case no) it stops there and the state looks real stupid.
Oh yeah, and he’s really a clown. Press conferences have gone viral … first he mistook NSA for NASA, next time he spelled it SNA.