New Events

International

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? Sat Mar 15, 2025 17:51 | Will Jones
Have we finally reached peak woke? Have we developed a vaccine to the woke mind virus? Like a dying religion, it's certainly in retreat. But some disciples of Wokus Dei are still clinging on.
The post Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Woman Stays in UK After Claiming He is Gay Sat Mar 15, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
A Pakistani man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and lived in Britain illegally for 11 years was allowed to stay after he claimed he was gay, despite offering no evidence.
The post Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Woman Stays in UK After Claiming He is Gay appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Reform Would Win Local Elections ? But Angela Rayner Cancelled Them Sat Mar 15, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones
Reform UK would be on course to win in May?s local elections ? except Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has axed key votes. "They're terrified of us. The whole system is rotten," the party said.
The post Reform Would Win Local Elections ? But Angela Rayner Cancelled Them appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Declined: Chapter 12: Theo Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:00 | Molly Kingsley
Chapter 12 of Declined is here ? a dystopian satire by Molly Kingsley about the emergence of a social credit system in the UK. This week: amid threats to have their children removed, Poppy goes missing from school.
The post Declined: Chapter 12: Theo appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link There?s a Whole Lotta Political Engineering Goin? On Sat Mar 15, 2025 09:00 | James Alexander
There's something distinctly illiberal about what goes under the name 'Political Science', says Prof James Alexander. Half its practitioners want to control our thoughts and the rest wonder why no one trusts government.
The post There’s a Whole Lotta Political Engineering Goin’ On appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?124 Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:56 | en

offsite link "Kristallnacht" against the Alawites in Syria Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:38 | en

offsite link Is Donald Trump managing the possible collapse of the ?American empire??, by Thi... Tue Mar 11, 2025 06:59 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?123 Fri Mar 07, 2025 14:41 | en

offsite link Arab League summit for Gaza Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:53 | en

Voltaire Network >>

German secret service spies on journalists

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press author Friday May 19, 2006 10:58author by Terence Report this post to the editors

Employs Stasi like methods

The German secret service has been spying on journalists for over 25 years. The question is could it happen here and elsewhere. Undoubtably the answer must be yes. Why would it be any different anywhere else?

This report details more than 25 years of spying by the German secret service (BND) on German journalist, even though all BND activity was supposed to be foreign related.

If this was happening in Germany, then we can be sure it was happening in other countries too like the UK, France, Italy. Indeed probably all countries including our very own here ... with of course the tapping of journalists phones here in the 1980s and no doubt continued.

It also is yet further proof that the facade of Western democracy is a sham because it clearly show governments go to great lengths to hide what they consider really important and used the spying to follow up what stories were been leaked, by whom and what stories were being covered so as to help in the spread of spin and disinformation in order to manipulate public opinion and keep the system humming just nicely for those it serves.

The report recounts how this took place and provides some of the details. For example:


"Germany’s secret service has systematically spied on journalists for years. The Federal Information Service (BND) not only used its own agents, but also other journalists who were paid to supply reports to the secret service and shadowed colleagues who investigated the work of the BND."

"An investigation by a former judge at the Federal High Court, Gerhard Schäfer .... details some 25 years of persistent spying on selected journalists. ...

Schäfer’s report casts a spotlight on the illegal intrigues of the BND, which far exceed the agency’s powers, dispense with constitutional norms and stand outside all control. Schäfer repeatedly describes the practices of the secret service as “disproportionate” and “clearly illegal.” He identifies a blatant “interference with press freedoms.”

The report uncovers a dense network of BND informants and shadowing operations targeting various editorial offices, recalling the practices of the Stasi, East Germany’s notorious state security agency."

"A former Focus editor, named as “Wilhelm Di.,” operating between 1982 and 1998 under the cover names “the silent one” and “Dali,” received 653,000 deutsche marks for some 856 reports sent to the BND. Together with “Erwin De.,” pseudonym “Bosch,” he spied on Focus reporter Josef Hufelschulte. The two reported with whom Hufelschulte met, which contacts he had and trips he planned to make. In addition, Hufelschulte was shadowed by up to eight BND agents, who followed him into underground car parks and to the weekly market."


And in a bizarre example of the BND actually running an operation to create a story which they then "exposed" all for the purpose of political gain, the article recounts:


"In particular, journalists working for the news magazine Der Spiegel were shadowed by BND agents after the magazine had reported in 1995 on a plutonium deal set up by the BND itself.

With “Operation Hades” in 1994, the German secret service had sought to foment panic and expose a worldwide trade in weapons-grade plutonium. The results of an artificially created “successful investigation” were to be released just before federal and state elections to influence the political result. In the end, it turned out that the BND had arranged the whole deal itself and had transported 363 grams of highly poisonous plutonium on a passenger plane from Moscow to Munich, ignoring all safety precautions."


Full report:
German secret service spies on journalists, employs Stasi methods
at: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/germ-m19_prn....shtml

Related Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/germ-m19_prn.shtml
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy