Eurozine - Privacy as a human right - Peter Schaar Edward Snowden and the control of power

7.3.15

Eurozine - Privacy as a human right - Peter Schaar Edward Snowden and the control of power: Then there is the fact that, particularly with foreign intelligence, laws effective in the field of operations are systematically broken. The NSA may very well be acting in conformity with US law and the GCHQ with British law, yet still be breaking foreign law. This is precisely what happened. For example, if a foreign secret service infiltrates a German computer using Trojan horse software, then that is an offence. Secret services that obtain the private data of German citizens by intercepting their telecommunications, or via the electro-magnetic fields of data processing facilities, are acting criminally. Just because spying does not contravene international law does not mean that spies cannot be prosecuted. German criminal law prohibits working for the intelligence services of a foreign country, for example.