Big Brother Is Also Reading

The suspicion that U.S. intelligence agencies systematically spy on the Internet, where users share information about their private lives, is not new. In 2007, in the name of the war on terror, Congress gave the green light for spying on email traffic and social networks. But the intensity and extent to which Internet companies were compliant in divulging their customers’ data is only now becoming clear. The companies did not have a choice, but they can be reproached for the hypocrisy with which they are trying to cover up their cooperation.

As things stand, it is mainly non-Americans who were affected by the snooping, most likely including Germans. Only here in Germany is there an open debate about how far data privacy protection should go and to what extent it can be overruled in the interests of security. This gives rise to the question of proportionality. Terrorists know very well that intelligence agencies infiltrated the Internet long ago. It is primarily innocent citizens who end up in the sights of the spies.