GCHQ and NSA Targeted World Leaders, Private German Companies 145
Advocatus Diaboli sends this news from Der Spiegel:
"Documents show that Britain's GCHQ intelligence service infiltrated German Internet firms and America's NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany and collected information about the chancellor in a special database. Is it time for the country to open a formal espionage investigation? ... A secret NSA document dealing with high-ranking targets has provided further indications that Merkel was a target. The document is a presentation from the NSA's Center for Content Extraction, whose multiple tasks include the automated analysis of all types of text data. The lists appear to contain 122 country leaders. Twelve names are listed as an example, including Merkel's."
Re:Feelings hurt (Score:2, Insightful)
Since USAian's hurt feelings are a matter of national security, NSA is well within the law for collecting info about what Germans think.
What?
Germany is a powerful country. It's leadership - whoever it is - is going to be spied upon by every nation with the resources to do so.
Or do you really think countries like China, Russia, and even France don't spy on German leaders?
Re:Feelings hurt (Score:5, Insightful)
But you're not supposed to get caught!
Re:Good for the NSA (Score:4, Insightful)
Fuck all these other countries. You can't stop us anyway, we are the mightiest, richest, most powrerful nation on Earth and we do whatever the fuck we want.
And Americans wonder why they have a reputation for being both arrogant and uninformed...
Ironically, this is exactly what many of the beneficiaries of, um, your foreign policy would love you to do: take all your military kit and, respectfully, piss off.
The problem is that your trampling on "weaker" nations is kind of a large part of your being "mighty" and rich (well, one marginal fraction of you anyway) and your leaders are unlikely to give that up.
Let's hear about the exceptions for once (Score:1, Insightful)
It would be more interesting to hear who they're *not* spying on these days.
Re:@people from the US (Score:3, Insightful)
Citation needed.
Yes. Germany has it's intelligence service (called BND. Bundesnachrichtendienst), but it does nowhere the same things with the same scope as what the NSA is doing. Not even close. And in particular not on a supposed ally and friend. Why are you an ally if you can't trust them?
You are paranoid. You (the US) think that everyone is your enemy. Guess who has the same stance? North Korea.
And ironically that's exactly what will one day isolate you, like North Korea. Distrusting and bullying everyone will one day make actually everyone your real enemy.
This shocks people??? (Score:2, Insightful)
So, the NSA is doing foreign signals intelligence, eh?
As it is mandated by law to do...
Somehow, I can't get really excited that the NSA is actually doing its job. And yes, spying on foreign leaders is part of the job of the NSA, as it is for EVERY espionage organization in history....
Re:Spy agencies spying? (Score:2, Insightful)
And if this news was about Russians caught spying on USA and Britain, there'd be a bunch of people foaming at the mouth declaring "act of war" instead of the recently common "oh well, that's just what they do" dismissive brush-off.
Hypocrites everywhere.
Re:@people from the US (Score:2, Insightful)
>WWII could have been completely avoided if we knew about the plans to remilitarizr the rhine before it happened.
ROFL. The most delusional comment of the day.
Remind me again why sanction on the Iraq were necessary? And why the 2nd Iraq war was justified. Please say WMD. I want to laugh.
> France and Russia exploited the oil for food program
Oh noes! As opposed to the US and the Dick Chaney company who are now exploiting the Iraq and enforcing sweet sweet deals? Pot meet kettle.