Commentary: Considerate Spying

Germany has given up the fight for a no-spy agreement even though outrageous spying activities by the intelligence services are constantly being unveiled.

Well, surprisingly, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is not urging the U.S. to sign no-spy agreement anymore. Instead, he has accepted that there are different ways of assessing the relationship between freedom and security with a shrug.

This should not come as a surprise, as the Americans have made it clear since Edward Snowden’s revelations that they will essentially keep making use of the same spying activities despite the Germans being so agitated. The federal republic should actually be thankful for such considerate spying, as it protects the country from terror.

While Steinmeier hopes for a “cyberdialogue,” the most recent disclosure coming from Snowden has shocked the people: The British Secret Services have been saving video-chat images from Yahoo customers for years. It is not as bad as it seems, say the agents. The data was collected to be watched only in suspicious cases. What they mean:

Actually, algorithms are responsible for collecting and rating the information by doing laborious and detailed work. Although the secret services are strongly invading the privacy of citizens, they are doing a decent job from a constitutional standpoint. But if they truly believe it, they should beware that their computers do not take over the whole shop.