German intelligence halts internet surveillance for NSA – reports

The German secret service BND has pulled the plug on the internet surveillance program for the US National Security Agency (NSA) amid the growing scandal over its extent of cooperation in spying on its EU partners, German media reported.

The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) – the German Federal Intelligence Service – stopped sharing internet surveillance data with the NSA on Monday, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, public broadcasters NDR and WDR, and national news agency DPA reported.
Berlin has demanded that the US spy agency first file an official request explaining the need for the internet-based data from Germany’s Bad Aibling listening post in Bavaria, where 120 BND employees and some NSA technicians work, according to reports.
The NSA has reportedly refused to comply with the request due to short notice. Washington has not yet commented on the issue.
READ MORE: BND helped NSA spy on EU politicians & companies ‘against German interests’
However, the BND will continue to garner telephone calls and fax messages for Washington as this service falls under a different agreement.
German media reported on Thursday that the Chancellery made the decision to limit cooperation with the NSA in order to reshape future relations with the agency.
The request comes amid an investigation into recent revelations that suggested the BND had been spying on European politicians and enterprises for Washington for over a decade.
READ MORE: German opposition demands probe into BND/NSA surveillance & industrial espionage
Konstantin von Notz, an opposition Green party member on the investigation committee, confirmed the significant curtailment of cooperation in an interview to ARD television, saying “This is a drastic step.”
"I think they've pulled the emergency brake because, even in 2015, they still can't control the search terms for Internet traffic."
He also accused the German government of failing to “protect German and European interests."
On Monday Chancellor Angela Merkel, who heads the foreign intelligence agency, tried to defend its spying activities saying that she will fully cooperate with a parliamentary investigation and provide “all the details” necessary.
She added that it was imperative both agencies continue cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, but reiterated that it’s unacceptable to spy on friendly nations.
READ MORE: German govt accused of lying to parliament about NSA spying
Members of Merkel’s cabinet have been testifying before the parliamentary investigation committee over allegations that the BND acted against national interests. Among the latest was the testimony of current Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who oversaw the foreign agency’s activities from 2005 to 2009 when he was the chancellor's chief of staff.
After a closed testimony on Wednesday, De Maiziere told reporters that he knew nothing of the "search terms from the US side, selectors or similar, for the purpose of economic espionage in Germany."
In April, Der Spiegel reported that the NSA had sent the BND thousands of so-called ‘selectors’, which included IP addresses, emails, and phone numbers, over the course of 10 years. The BND downloaded the NSA selectors into their monitoring system and used them to spy on targets, among which were European politicians, including French authorities, and European companies such as European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), Eurocopter, and the European aviation consortium Airbus.

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Silicon Valley county cancels Stingray surveillance contract

Silicon Valley, as seen from over north San Jose, facing southbound towards Downtown San Jose (Image from wikipedia.org)
Officials in Santa Clara County were about to acquire a new surveillance device known as a “Stingray,” but negotiations broke down after Harris Corporation wouldn’t agree to even the most basic public records responsibility.
Local lawmakers in Santa Clara had initially approved using federal funds to acquire the device in February. Little is known about the Stingray devices, which intercept phone data by mimicking cell phone towers, because local governments that are using them are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement by the corporations that make them, such as Harris.
READ MORE: NSA's telephone metadata collection not authorized by Patriot Act - appeals court
“After negotiations regarding contract terms, including business and legal issues, the County and Harris have been unable to reach agreement on a contract for the purchase of the System,”
wrote James Williams, the deputy county executive, to County Executive Jeffrey Smith. “Accordingly, the System will not be purchased at this time.”
County Executive Smith told Ars Technica the contract with Harris involved overly strict restrictions on disclosures through the public records process.
“What happened was, we were in negotiations with Harris, and we couldn’t get them to agree to even the most basic criteria we have in terms of being responsive to public records requests,”
said Smith.
“After many hours of back and forth it became clear that they weren’t going to consent to a contract in an attempt to keep everything secret and non-discoverable and that’s not something we could live with as a public agency. The negotiations are going to be terminated and the grant money will go to other purposes.
”

Santa Clara may be the first county in the US to refuse to accept Harris Corporation’s non-disclosure agreement, but it comes at a time when a number of investigations are underway into whether the technology breaks the law and violates the privacy rights of Americans.
“Stingrays are very invasive surveillance tracking technology and Santa Clara County was right to bring the issue of its acquisition to the Board of Supervisors and thoroughly consider the legal issues,
” the American Civil Liberties Union of North California said in a release on Wednesday.
READ MORE: FBI admits to using surveillance plans above Baltimore protests
The ACLU has identified 51 agencies in 21 states, plus the District of Columbia, as owning Stingray surveillance devices. Civil liberties groups that have been making public records requests in order to learn more about the technology have discovered that non-disclosure agreements exist between governments and companies like Harris. The ACLU has filed public records requests with more than 30 Florida law enforcement agencies, while the New York Civil Liberties Union has filed one with the sheriff’s office in Erie County, New York.
What is known is that these cell-site simulators trick phones into connecting to them by posing as cell phone towers – they can block or drop phone calls, and disrupt other mobile devices that use the same cell network, according to recent court disclosures. The ACLU said that law enforcement officials in Florida have used Stingray surveillance to track cell phone locations on more than 1,800 occasions, all without warrants.
The Harris Corporation’s Stingray is the most well-known device utilizing the controversial spying technology, which is used by the FBI, the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency and many state and local police agencies. By impersonating cell towers, the devices force phones in the area to broadcast information that can be used to identify and locate users. Ars Technica reported earlier that the FBI is trying to “prevent disclosure” of how the devices are used in local jurisdictions across the US.
READ MORE: 'Stingray' surveillance devices can degrade service for any cell phone in vicinity - report
The ACLU’s recent disclosure included a court filing that uncovered the ability of a Stingray to negate cell phone calls by either downgrading mobile devices from 3G or 4G connectivity to 2G – enabling them to access identification and location information – or by using the devices’ “catch-and-release”
functions
“As each phone tries to connect, [the stingray device] will say, ‘I’m really busy right now so go use a different tower. So rather than catching the phone, it will release it,”
Chris Soghoian, the ACLU’s chief technologist, told WIREDof the “catch-and-release” theory.
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