Dunhammer: NSA Blamed for Danish Spying on Euro Pols
In a damning leaked report, Danish authorities reveal that the NSA spies on friendly foreign governments. This time, thanks to the help of FE, its opposite number in Denmark.
It’s our old friend XKeyscore again. Edward Snowden (pictured) warned us this sort of thing was going on.
What should we tell Horatio? In today’s SB Blogwatch, Marcellus criticizes incestuous relationships.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: PSB is back with a banger.
“Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark”
What’s the craic? Catalin Cimpanu reports—“NSA spied on European politicians through Danish telecommunications hub”:
XKeyscore”
Denmark’s foreign secret service allowed the [NSA] to tap into a crucial internet and telecommunications hub in Denmark and spy on the communications of European politicians, a joint investigation by some of Europe’s biggest news agencies reveals. … The secret pact, signed between the NSA and the Danish … Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FE) allowed US spies to deploy a data interception system named XKeyscore from a base … near Copenhagen.
…
The NSA allegedly used XKeyscore to mass-sniff internet and mobile traffic and intercept communications such as emails, phone calls, SMS texts, and chat messages sent to the phone numbers and email addresses of European politicians. … Danish officials put a stop to the operation … following the Snowden leaks. … Danish law prohibits [FE] from using its resources to spy internally.
And Aunty Beeb adds—“NSA spying row”:
Condemned”
Denmark’s secret service helped the US spy on European politicians including German Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014 … according to Danish public service broadcaster DR. … Intelligence was allegedly collected on other officials from Germany, France, Sweden and Norway.
…
Germany is a close ally of the US. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a spokesperson for Angela Merkel have said they were not aware of Danish involvement. … European politicians have condemned the reports.
Det er en dårlig ting. Niels Fastrup og Lisbeth Quass are lost in translation—“The Defense Intelligence Service let the US spy on … top politicians through Danish internet cables”:
Intercepted everything”
[We] held several meetings with nine different sources for months, all had access to classified information from FE. All information in the article is confirmed by several independent sources.
…
This case is emerging as the largest intelligence scandal in Danish history, says a source. … The NSA has purposefully … spied on the Norwegian, Swedish, German and French politicians and officials.
…
[It] intercepted everything from text messages to phone calls that passed through the cables on their way to and from the phones of politicians and officials. … These are politicians in areas that intelligence services are classically interested in, says a source.
But it’s thousands of miles away. Why should you care? rsj_hn offers this sobering thought:
It will not be bound”
This all boils down to the question of how to reign in the administrative state. … The problem here is that no one really wants to reign it in—they want to control it and point it in the direction they prefer.
…
Once you have an administrative state, of course it’s going to monitor and spy on everyone. It’s going to arrest people and not give them fair trials. … It’s going to try to manipulate democratic processes. And it’s going to crush any force that it perceives as a threat.
…
In short, it will have a mind of its own, with its own goals. … It will not be bound by legislative or judicial restraints.
But it stopped seven years ago. Nothing to worry about now? Not so fast, says terminal.dk:
NSA equipment”
Microsoft created new data centers in Denmark in 2020. In stupid locations near data hubs.
But expensive location and they said they will need some used equipment. Read: NSA equipment.
So pcbro141 sounds slightly sarcastic:
Torture”
Listen Europe, this is good spying. … Not Huawei 5G spying.
Just like American torture is good torture, because we only torture the bad guys.
But are we surprised? Not downfromtherafters:
In other news”
In other news, water is wet. … Everybody spies on everybody.
Meanwhile, a0-prw puts it in some sort of context:
Hitler”
Danish foreign policy for at least 300 years has been catastrophically ill judged. I mean, they backed Napoleon (perhaps by mistake) and Hitler (reluctantly and cynically).
And Finally:
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites … so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: Laura Poitras (free / public domain)
