“Members of the German government will use encrypted phones as part of ‘urgent’ guidelines to protect against NSA snooping. The encryption software is not compatible with Apple, so Germany will phase out the use of iPhones at government level,” RT News reports. “Germany’s two main political parties – the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) – have agreed on new guidelines to ensure ministers are protected from having their communications intercepted by spy agencies. As part of the new regulations, politicians and high-ranking officials will be required to make calls on encrypted phones.”
“Software approved by Germany’s Bonn Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) will be used to protect phones from outside meddling. The program itself is incompatible with Apple technology, so German ministers will be forbidden from using iPhones for official communications, reports newspaper The Local,” RT News reports. “‘Our conversations and communication structure have to be safer,’ the government report said in the wake of the spy scandal that revealed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s communications had been monitored by the NSA.”
“Following the spy scandal, the German people’s trust in the US as an ally has plummeted,” RT News reports. “A recent poll showed 35 percent still see Washington as a reliable partner – a drop of 14 percent since July.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ed Garcia” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
U.S. NSA secretly infiltrated Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say – October 30, 2013
Obama administration decides NSA spying is ‘essential,’ but oversight of NSA is not – October 8, 2013
Apple’s iPhone 5s with Touch ID seen as protection against U.S. NSA – September 16, 2013
German government: Windows 8 contains U.S. NSA snooping back doors; too dangerous to use – August 23, 2013
Report: NSA can see 75% of U.S. Web traffic, can snare emails – August 21, 2013
NSA can read email, online chats, track Web browsing without warrant, documents leaked by Edward Snowden show – July 31, 2013
Momentum builds against U.S. government surveillance – July 29, 2013
U.S. House rejects effort to curb NSA surveillance powers, 205-217 – July 24, 2013
Obama administration scrambles to shut down imminent U.S. House vote to defund NSA spying – July 24, 2013
Obama administration demands master encryption keys from firms in order to conduct electronic surveillance against Internet users – July 24, 2013
Apple, Google, dozens of others push Obama administration to disclose U.S. surveillance requests – July 19, 2013
Secret court agrees to allow Yahoo to reveal its fight against U.S. government PRISM requests – July 16, 2013
How Microsoft handed U.S. NSA, FBI, CIA access to users’ encrypted video, audio, and text communications – July 11, 2013
DuckDuckGo search engine surges 33% in wake of PRISM scandal – June 20, 2013
Yahoo: Since December 2012, we have received up to 13,000 U.S. gov’t requests for customer data – June 18, 2013
Apple: Since December 2012, we have received U.S. gov’t requests for customer data for up to 10,000 accounts – June 17, 2013
Nine companies, including Apple, tied to PRISM, Obama to be smacked with class-action lawsuit – June 12, 2013
U.S. lawmakers urge review of ‘Prism’ domestic spying, Patriot Act – June 10, 2013
PRISM: Do Apple, Google, Facebook have an ethical obligation not to spy on users? – June 8, 2013
Plausible deniability: The strange and unbelievable similarities in the Apple, Google, and Facebook PRISM denials – June 7, 2013
Google’s Larry Page on government eavesdropping: ‘We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday’ – June 7, 2013
Seecrypt app lets iPhone, Android users keep voice calls, text messages away from carriers, government eyes and ears – June 7, 2013
Obama administration defends PRISM data-collection as legal anti-terrorism tool – June 7, 2013
Facebook, Google, Yahoo join Apple in sort-of denying PRISM involvement – June 7, 2013
Report: Intelligence program gives U.S. government direct access to customer data on Apple servers; Apple denies – June 6, 2013
I knew something like this would happen. Germany just doesn’t trust us after it has been revealed that the US government was spying on Angela Merkel. Why isn’t Android phones blacklisted though? Google is the most blatant offender in regards to this.
Because you can customize Android.
Yeah? Just try to customize the Google out of an Android phone. That is the only way that I would use one…
You can’t customize it in a way to make it secure. it is far less secure than iOS and that is by design..
I seriously doubt you can. They think they have it customized and secure but it is highly unlikely that they are correct in their assumption. Back doors at the sub-root level are bound to be there. They need to custom design their phones not using any US derived software.
What phone does she use anyway? Probably Android. In which case, Google provides the problem and the solution.
Mikko Hypponen: How the NSA betrayed the world’s trust — time to act
Our government is fast becoming more fascist and tyrannical under Obama and the Democrats than the Communists in China and Russia.
I here ShopRite has aluminum foil on sale this week.
Feels more like Planet of the Apes.
Only the apes weren’t all liars, like now.
Are they in the shape of hats?
The NSA operates with considerable independence from the White House. It would generally be an error to associate their actions with presidential policy. That being said, Obama’s endorsement of everything from civilian phone tapping to drones is disappointing and a failure of leadership. The NSA and other organizations like them do not understand that the information or data they gather represents a net loss compared to the trust and goodwill that is destroyed, leaving dysfunction and hostility.
However, it should be clearly understood that the vast expansion of surveillance and spying at every level – not only on enemies but on allies and citizens – and the remarkable powers and immunity granted to them, occurred under the Bush administration, as a very clear part of their policy to create government organizations with almost limitless powers and no accountability whatsoever.
But if it was Bush…
…the Dem/Lib/Progs would have no problem blaming him. There would be SNL skits and repeated mentions throughout the leftist media outlets.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Payback is a bitch. Get used to it.
And, what I mean, to be precise is that you do not get to blast a guy unmercifully for things that weren’t even his fault over a period of years and expect nothing in return. You do not deserve that. You reap what you sow.
For one example:
Bush Assassination Film Applauded at Festival
Looking forward to utilizing those new Senate rules killing filibusters very soon, too.
And, wait ’til you anti-American statists see what the GOP passes via reconciliation!
I hear you, man. Who cares about facts and stuff. The Lib/Progs would lie and twist the facts, so the Rad/Cons should too. This is war, man. We’ll worry about figuring out “the truth” once the Lib/Progs no longer exist.
You guys are proof positive, the powers at be are dividing and conquering us.
Such shallow, black and white one sided partisanship cannot accomplish anything constructive.
You really are a case.
Obama is about as liberal/progressive as Barry Goldwater. Obama’s policies and tendencies are aligned about where the Republican Party mainstream was a generation ago. BTW-Goldwater had no respect and little use for NeoCons.
A progressive would be someone like Bernie Sanders.
I concur.
Let this be understood. The first file that lands on your desk as president/prime minister/dictator is one labelled Super Secret. The label also says..
You must read this.
On reading, you have accepted all our terms…for ever.
If you choose to ‘not’ read it, you accept the consequences.
This file will self destruct after being read…FOR YOUR PROTECTION.
Opening the file presents you with every embarrassing fact about your previous life you thought you had covered up. Every dodgy contact, girlfriend, spliff not inhaled, driving misdemeanors, tax evasion, backhander…ad nauseum. You, your wife, your kids, your relations, friends….even people you thought you had avoided by being cute. EVERYTHING IS THERE in minutest detail.
Last page:
“Thankyou for reading this file. You may now proceed to do your designated job secure in the knowledge that none of this will become public unless you choose to ignore our UNWRITTEN GUIDELINES but you will receive a reminder of your position in the scheme of things.”
Anybody who thinks they can blame Obama or Bush or whom- ever for inaction or implementation of freedom limiting legislation…
IS DUMB BEYOND BELIEF.
Perhaps that gory footage of JFK’s demise are included in the package.
There is no doubt that those 600 + highly visible personalities in office in DC are to some degree something of a shadow theater, or a Potemkin village of a sort.. The real power wielders are behind the curtains, pulling the puppet strings.
The hyper-partisanship that has been cultivated in this country is another success story for the power mongers. Divide and conquer, distract from the real challenges, problems, and power consolidation, and dis-empowerment of the general population in this “democracy”
Never the less, elections do still matter, so folks, pay attention, don’t let TV brainwash you, pay attention .” Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”
Personally, I have serious doubts that those on the Right are any less inclined to be control freaks.
Or maybe the Obama administration has lost control of those that act in its name.
That’s not impossible, but based on his actions and public speeches and what he ha already admitted to, I am not inclined to be that generous.
This stuff started under Bush the Idiot ( Dubya ), Obamanation just kept it going and expanded it.
Tim Cook, co-conspirator. Tim Cook’s “2014 will bring great things” obviously meant more iPhone users added to NSA “favorites” list.
Irony explosion: Germany doesn’t trust another country…
Score another win for Barack Obama.
He is definitely the goose that laid the crap-filled egg.
Can someone tell Obama? He always seems to “NOT KNOW” about these things….
Jeez John,
Go complain to your cat. Your whining has no relevance here.
Jeez, Mikey.
Sounds like the truth hurts and your wish is for everyone to walk away, apparently like you have.
Dangerous democracy … never.
Let’s get real here: George W. Bush and thugs got the ball rolling on surveillance of US citizens on US soil without probable cause or legal warrant.
If anyone thinks the Republicans give a rat’s about citizen privacy or international privacy, they’re uninformed.
Both Parties: Treasonous. Puppetted. Worthless.
Third Parties: Get busy being better.
Go shove your rant the one place the NSA can’t see (unless you go through a TSA body scanner). The Democrats overwhelmingly supported those laws too, and Obama renewed it with bipartisan support.
What rant? I stated facts without going obscene and stupid. YOU however are only ranting.
And, like the ignorant person you portray yourself to be, you didn’t bother to finish what I wrote, did you!
Bizlaw: Your nick is ridiculous. You don’t know even BASIC US law, do you! You’ve never read the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution and don’t even care that you have no idea what it says, what it’s for, why it was written, why it is a fundamental law of the USA. You’re just a lost berzerker looking for nothing but making other people suffer for YOUR problems. Prove me wrong.
Well Derek, you stated what you believe to be a factual representation of blanket surveillance in the U.S., but you’re wrong. It’s gone on much longer than Obama, before Bush, during the Clinton administration (when the media thought it was just dandy) before Clinton, before Bush Sr. and so on. Electronic surveillance has taken place in the U.S. by the U.S. Government, ever since they realized they could intercept telegraph signals.
Interestingly what we find so egregious now was championed by our esteemed Vice President, when he developed the guts of what was to become the Patriot Act.
Allowing the government to grow in power unchecked, well I expect that out of Democrats. So I’m not surprised that the Senate and the President back the NSA here. What does surprise me is that House Republicans have also done very little to create viable oversight for domestic surveillance and they are the ones who are supposed to have our freedom in mind.
So quite frankly, I’m disgusted with them all.
Officially, the poorly named ‘Patriot Act’ designates a specific system of probable cause and rapid method of obtaining a legal warrant.
But that’s too inconvenient. It also gets in the way of what was really wanted: Mass surveillance of all citizens at all times within the USA, which obviously is unconstitutional and therefore treason.
Also, I never said anything about pre-GW Bush. If you have evidence of these treasonous crimes before the Neo-Con administration hit Washington, please help us all learn!
And yeah, I am disgusted with them all as well. I’m especially disgusted with folks who obviously bury their brain in the sand then swagger around like they have any comprehension of where this is all going.
Derek you sound like a total dumb fuck. Please go away and learn some American history before spouting cock & bull on this forum.
And by the way, fuck you, you stupid liberal fucktard.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Troll deluxe. Can’t be bothered to read what I write. Can’t be bothered to write intelligently. Can’t be bothered to appear in any way a rational human being.
Yeah, that’s right. saying ‘fuck’ several times over will get your point across. Trash comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. What’s disturbing is that trash vote, and of course vote for trash.
You may have some liberal beliefs but you consistently write intelligent and thoughtful posts which I enjoy reading. I am not a fan of the spying on citizens that took place under Bush, but there may have been a short term reason to that based on terrorism, but that’s never going to completely go away as a threat and it is not a justification for wholesale spying or for ignoring the Constitution.
When some one resorts profane derisive name calling, that is a sign they have no real legitimate arguments, respect, or even an rational adult mentality.
How can you even type on your keyboard with a mouth full of Mussolini’s cum? I’d think you would be savouring it too much to get your pecker an Bushes picture out of your hands long enough to post. Retarded Child-man.
Your love of Dubya and Neocons is well known here … 😉
As others have pointed out you need to look further for the truth. We’re talking decades and administrations from both sides. Facts are non-partisan.
Your too smart to fall for the irrational believers of the current administration that everything is Bush’s fault.
But if that’s how you see it, well, good luck with that … 🙂
I’m not going to spontaneously generate all this knowledge and data from the past. Obviously, I’m busy with the present, at present.
Are you just going to sit there and type lots of blahblah? Are you going to figure out that ‘you are’ is contracts to ‘you’re’ not ‘your’.
Arm chair ranting, doing nothing, informing no one, wasting bandwidth. <-That's all you've done. You won't have any luck with that.
Get perspective. And then SHARE IT with others. Get out of your soggy old box and live in the real world please.
Yeah, but Bush never said anything like this:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” Barack Hussein Obama, 7/2/2008
You guys have no idea what the king ape has in store for u guys.
There is one party in control in Washington: The Money Party.
The Money Party has 2 Right Wings and no left wing- one is simply further right than the other. As the masses play red pill vs blue pill the Money Party knows both pills are placebos.
That’s certainly one way to view it.
I for one don’t deal with reality on a single line of thought, a 1-dimensional categorization of how we think. I can point to the ‘Republicans’ and show you the sub-group called the ‘Neo-Conservatives’ and list out exactly why they are NOT ‘Republicans’ at all. They’re off the line, off in their particular weeds. Therefore, we say ‘there is a rift in the Republican party’. What’s really going on is a bullshit attempt to call Neo-Conservatives conservatives at all! They are not.
The more we can dissect and delineate exactly what’s going on the more comprehension we’ll have, the more we can compare how we thing with how they think.
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is all about remaining stupid, about hiding the vast and critical complexity that IS what we are. It’s all in the details. Limiting oneself to ‘left’ and ‘right’ is to live on the surface and not understand what’s inside. /lecture
“Willfully Ignorant”
Great insight, if supremely cynical, from Carlin. Get off the political line and notice that living on that line means you’re willfully ignorant. Left or right or moderate, there’s a hell of a lot MORE going on.
The NSA was created by Harry Truman in 1952.
Obama’s first job after Columbia college was for a CIA front.
Democrats and Republicans are two sides of a Mobius strip.
Tell me about it.
At this point we know both parties are enabling the demolition of the US Constitution. If we want to keep things simple, there we go. To hell with both parties.
YES starting to see this to be true – Shit!
Just “starting?”
Hoo, boy.
Could you remind me about the origins of the NSA and who gave them marching orders to spy and bully the world?
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Absolutely. I am certain Obama cooked up Prism while he was a tot in Kenya (he actually went to Middle School there!)
Boris, meet sh_t and shinola, good to learn the difference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)
US spying programs enjoy lives that often cross through multiple administrations, for good or for bad.
impeach, convict, execute…yes, we can.
“A recent poll showed 35 percent still see Washington as a reliable partner – a drop of 14 percent since July.”
Wow, that’s about how much of our own citizenry see liberals as reliable partners, too.
Yehhhh! Wow! Oh for the golden years, the wonder and beauty of the country and economy under Bush.
This is what happens when you vote for a neophyte.
Experience matters. Character matters.
At least some of us could see it with crystal clarity.
StreeTool, comment on MDN, Nov. 5, 2008 – 8:55 am:
Get ready for a whole new even higher level “ignorance, divisiveness and incompetence” from the community organizer. Don’t forget now you have socialism, marxism, facism, stomping on free speech etc. Be prepared to hand over your paycheck to Der Commissar Obama and his congress with a 9% approval rating.
You have no idea how bad these leftists are going to plunder you wallet. They are going to tax you to death, then re-distribute your wealth. This is after they get done sending your energy costs through the roof. The leftists don’t just tax you, they tax everything around you, strangling business and individual liberties.
In 4 years America will be begging to get out, but may not be able to because the game has been changed… ‘for your better good’…
It’s the Peanut Farmer all over again, except this time he has the backing of some truly rotten people, who would like to destroy our values and CONSTITUTION.
You really know nothing about this guy. Obama is a smooth talking one night stand. In a little while people will wake up and ask how did this happen???
The collusion of the Media to push this clown over the top is astounding. Congratulations, you were warned and didn’t listen. Assume position.
Are you forgetting what the ReTHUGlicans did throughout the entire 2000s decade? They made a mess out of this country and Obama is trying ridiculously hard to bring it back to its pre-2000 glory. And speaking about the year 2000, please don’t remind me of what happened that year. I would like to forget it ever happened…but it did, and we are living in the aftermath of “the incident”…
James, You really believe that? How’s the Kool Aid??? Now why don’t you go donate to AL GORE.. really, just write him a check towards the Global Warming hoax,,, Or are you like every other Dem and Libtard, who look towards others to pay, but not yourselves… ???
What Kool Aid? Al Gore was more qualified for the job, and everyone knew it! It’s just that Jeb Bush (who by a weird coinincedence, is Bush’s brother) rigged the voting booths in Florida so they would all say Bush, regardless if the voter voted for Bush or Gore. Do some research.
Right, a sitting governor rigged voting booths. Perhaps you should do some research on something other than conspiracy theorist sites.
Not that I believe it, but it makes more sense than most of the right-wing crap spouted on this forum by Fwhatever and his cronies.
re “Global Warming hoax”
Go visit the polar bears, or Denver in winter, or pine forests all across the northern part of the country infested with parasites that used to get killed by the cold weather each winter.
And do you REALLY think that scientists all over the world have as a primary motivation the desire to screw with the profits of the ultra-rich? That’s the best they have to do with their lives?
As the comedian said, “Yes, we were given dominion over…., but that doesn’t mean you get to do whatever the —– you like. Yup, Jesus will be back soon and boy is he going to be pissed when he sees what a mess you’ve made of his place.”
The Earth warming is normal. We are exiting an ice age as the Earth has done many times before even before people. What we can argue is the influence people have on the rate of climate change. But you must realize climate change was inevitable.
Good to see you are not in denial of warming occurring. Good start. Now how do you propose we deal with the reasonable predictable consequences and challenges to mankind, particularly in light of impending population of 10 billion people?
We exited an ice age thousands of years ago we are due to start the long road to another one actually as much as they can be predicted accurately.
Yup, it’s all man’s fault. Don’t forget the dinosaurs had global warming due to dino farts, you know, when Antarctica was actually lush and green.
The last time there was a big story on polar bears and ice melting, the global warming crowd was out in force screaming “We told you so!” Then NASA pointed out that their climate computer model didn’t take into account wind from Russia, which was blowing warmer air from Russian river deltas to the Bering Sea and melting ice. Simply due to a normal periodic change in jet streams.
If you live by phrases sprouted by comedians that ‘resonate’ with you, you will never have wisdom.
Jesus will indeed return, but for those trusting in Him, ‘global warming’ won’t even enter their minds.
For those who have denied Jesus will find a larger warming effect they can do nothing about.
Government snooping was the topic which is outrageous – but someone far more powerful is reading your thoughts and seeing every ‘hidden’ action. He considers lust the same as adultery and hate the same as murder. How will you fair on judgment day? Jesus Saves!
I’m rooting for Zeus myself Jesus just knocked off his image rights, rather like Samsung does to Apple.
Nothing the Jesus did was a copy the world had seen / heard nothing Him. Quite unlike ‘Zeus’.
While Apple are incredible innovators, craftsmen and visionaries, they cannot create anything out of nothing, unlike Jesus.
Samsung are just deceivers.
“Obama is trying ridiculously hard to bring it back to its pre-2000 glory.”
Either you’re the world’s most naive idiot or you’ve not yet seen your 9th birthday. Which is it?
Are you kidding me? Either you were in a coma between January 2001 and January 2009, or you are a tea Bagger. Bush messed up during 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, started a war more messed up than ‘Nam, and countless other things that I can’t list for space reasons. Watch “Fahrenheit 9/11” and maybe both of you will get it.
Michael Moore is a propagandist, son. I already saw his disinformation piece, thanks.
Also, before I let you go: I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. I can give you a real deal on it. I know you’re interested.
It’s no use trying to reason with people like you. Bush has done more harm to this country in 8 years than Obama has done in 5. In fact, Bush messed up so bad that it is hard for Obama to fix it! Remember: Bush started spying on you (yes, dear reader, YOU) since about 2003 with the Patriot Act, then you guys blame it on Obama. Unbelievable. It would be funny if it wasn’t depressing…
Stockhold Syndrome, James. They really think that organizing the society for maximum benefit to the ultra-rich is best for everyone.
Remind me again how much debt Obama has given us in 5 years. Oh yeah, $6.1 trillion. What did we get for that $6.1 trillion?
Well, the country still exists and avoided a total meltdown and anarchy. Besides, both the historically catastrophic economic crash and the bailout effort started under Bush? Care to deny that?
Bush messed up during 9/11?!? What was he supposed to do, teleport himself into the 4 airplanes and take control of them?
Hurricane Katrina was Democrat Mayor Ray Nagen’s fault. His city, his control, and he refused to let the feds come in and help earlier. As I recall, it was the US Coast Guard (as ordered by Pres. Bush) who came in right away and rescued scores of people. Nagen sat in his hotel room the whole time.
But at least Bush knew what was happening, unlike Obama. He didn’t know anything about the IRS scandal, Benghazi, his signature legislation Obamacare not being ready to go on time, etc. etc. etc. Something doesn’t work; don’t blame O, he didn’t know!
There was a government memo named “Bin Laden Determined to strike the US” issued in early August 2001, a little over a month before 9/11. Bush could have read the report, and made plans on how to prevent it, but he did not. He just played golf. “Now, watch this drive!”
Really??? Do you get your historical facts from Disney? Bin Laden was on the U.S. radar back in 1994 went Clinton was in office. Clinton did not want to get involved…look what happened 7 years later. Really?, com on man…stop believing everything you here from main stream media….it’s a joke!
“Do you get your facts from Disney?” I’ll admit, that was pretty funny. Miramax Films, the studio that distributed “Fahrenheit 9/11”, was actually owned by the Walt Disney company before it shut down. Nice, subtle joke you had their.
Comedy to see anyone think they are having a reasoned discussion while quoting or referring to Michael Moore. Sad.
People like James here make me weep for the human race.
Fuck off.
This is what happens when you vote for a neophyte.
Right. So vote for an old Republican.
You are so incredibly stupid ‘First-Then’. Leading the sheep to the slaughter. Do you enjoy that?
Dump BOTH treasonous political parties.
Gee, brilliant idea. Dump both political parties. To be replaced with what? Two more political parties? Are you naive or stupid enough to believe that a label or party affiliation will really change who is running for office?
Two rival criminal gangs have infiltrated your city. They both ruin your life, your property value, your safety, your income…
So choose one criminal gang to ‘protect’ you.
This is what happens…
Excellent. Thank you Thelonious!
Fwhatever, you make these verbose statements based upon flawed logic, misinformation, and avoidance of inconvenient facts. Here’s one for you…the beloved President Reagan acted in B-grade movies. What made a stint as Governor qualify him for the office of POTUS?
Can’t blame the Germans. Does Seimans make phones?
Actually Deutsche Telekom developed a modified Galaxy S3.
Get a grip, y’all. Does anyone seriously believe that the NSA wouldn’t have spied on Angela Merkel (or any other world leader) if the other political party held the White House? For that matter, does anyone believe that the US intelligences agencies are any different from those in Germany/Great Britain/China/etc.? Better technology, perhaps. More resources, perhaps. But qualitatively no different.
And all that will stop is the NSA (or CIA) from listening in on actual conversations. It won’t stop the NSA from getting data from mobile providers.
It probably will only slow down the NSA, not stop it.
You just have to love the Germans! Leading by example and not hand wringing as other countries politicians have done.
Aw, shucks. Is another Apple downgrade on the way because of this?
And the secure, encrypted phones are provided by whom?
I hate politics.
I hated politics since the 2000 elections. I feel your pain.
Same question here steve h. What’s hilarious is that if Germany has turned to Android phones, they are the single LEAST secure smartphones on the market with what statistically amounts to ALL the malware, with the number of malware continuing to grow exponentially. Hacking into an Android phone is considered trivial. Once in, you have the keys to the call encryption protocol. IOW: Total OOPS. IOW: They’ll be changing their smartphones AGAIN in the very near future.
Silly TechTards.
No one said they’re using a smartphone. Perhaps it’s just an encrypted feature phone meant for phone calls only.
Or maybe it’s a Windows Phone or Blackberry. No one bothers to hack into those anyway.
Of course no one said what phone they’re using. I didn’t either, did I.
We should all start wearing tin foil hats. Seriously. The novel 1984 is coming true.
You people are funny. The best thing about it, though, is that if the UN and most of its members recognized Hawaii for what IT REALLY IS, then ol’ Obama would not be President. Since Hawaii is an occupied nation, Obama can’t be president. And frankly, you mainlanders don’t deserve him. He can come back to Hawaii, and ignore the harsh, hostile, mainland. You don’t need us, and we certainly don’t need you.
I would LOVE for him to resign and go back to Hawaii. Deal done!
You sound like one of those hostile mainlanders. People like you are one of the reasons we wished Hawaii was still a kingdom, and never was invaded by the US Navy.
If I had the chance to send Obama and Biden over there, separate the state from the rest of the country and never see or hear from Obama or Hawaii again I would take that before I could blink twice.
Hawaii can have its tropical beaches, I can find them elsewhere.
The only reason other countries are upset with the NSA is because they are embarrassed that their own spies didn’t figure it out first.
As far as iPhones not being used within the German government… well, I hope they realize that all these phones come from the same communist China. Google data in Android is “flexible and can be manipulated” to any use…including at the factory level. Who can say if Android software is more ‘secure’ than iOS- Android it so open, they don’t even know all the information being inserted into the base by manufacturers.
Way to go Germany, I hope you pave the way for other free world countries to stand up against what has become the global bully. It’s a tough job but as they no longer have any moral ground whatsoever that should make it easier on everyone.
Yes, above all, let’s blame George Bush for the fact that Obama is running the NSA which is spying on everyone in the world, except potential terrorists, who Obama respects and defers to, because when they are not blowing up their own children they are practicing the religion of peace. Obama is destroying the world day by day, but, it is all George Bush’s fault. George Bush just caused you to lose your private insurance, to have your full time job cut to part-time and your part time job ended. George Bush caused over half of our country to now be on Food Stamps, Obamaphones and permanent lifetime disability. George Bush is responsible for the recent fad of “knock out”, where young black thugs in their early teens try to kill innocent whites and Asians with one punch, because “it’s fun”. George Bush did all this and more and he left office five years ago.
Actually, the Obamaphone concept is actually a lot older than Bush…it dates back to Ronald Reagan.
Interesting. Notice you never heard of Reaganphones. Of course in those ancient days, there was some residual concept of having a job, paying for your own stuff, not expecting your neighbor to pay for your food, the government actually helping the private economy instead of penalizing it. Now granted, there was a Democrat House and Senate (mostly) during Reagan’s years, so there were a lot of stupid ideas, but the government did not monopolize stupidity and gross incompetence and hatred of its own citizens the way Obama has. But I will take you at your word. Of course there were no cell phones then so your word is worthless.
Don’t play dumb with me. You know what I meant. The FCC’s Lifeline Assistance program was created in the mid-80s by the Reagan government as a way for poor people to have access to telecommunications. Several years later, in 1996 to be exact, Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act into law, which actually offered phone service to those in poverty. It isn’t even paid with tax dollars! Phone providers such as Verizon or Sprint pay for the service! Like Ali G used to say: “You gotta check yourself before you wreck yourself!”
And you don’t play dumb with me. The 1980s program was nothing like the present day permanent cell phones for life welfare program for whoever just doesn’t feel like working. Check the amount spent in the 80s for basic home telephone service versus what is spent now for multiple phones per individual if you so desire. It was a very small program at first which did have Al Gore’s fingerprints on it and undo Obama, just as with Food Stamps, it is now heavily marketed to get as many “takers” as possible. Those “takers” of course represent future Obama/ Democrat voters.
FCC: Obamaphone Fraud and Abuse Surpasses Two Million Subscribers
Well, the Germans can afford to play all unknowing and offended over this now that they don’t have the Soviet Union and East Germany to worry about. All of these hypocritical governments are doing the same thing or wish they could. Anyone with half a brain wants to know exactly what friend or foe are really about. A friend one day can easily become an enemy the next, as we are seeing now.
Damn I’m so glad to hear this. I hope the Silicon Valley loses BILLIONS!!! Not that it is their fault but this will bring a tremendous amount of pressure on Congress to significantly limit the powers of the NSA. This type of fallout is needed. I hate the NSA more than words can describe. If I could put a bullet in the head of Keith Alexander I would. Everything I do now is encrypted online now. Once I found out how the insidiously evil NSA was spying on practically every American citizien I nuked all of my gmail, yahoo! mail and outlook.com accounts and I use a secure email provider. I use OpenVPN for all of my online activities and I even use a disposable email service (MaskeMe). I never give my actual real email anymore.
Why can’t Americans have a sensible political debate?
““‘Our conversations and communication structure have to be safer,’”
Why, what have got to hide and what are you up to? Maybe spying on your own citizens and the wider eu? Seems very suspicious to me that they’re acting so quickly on this.
I don’t trust the our German overlords and the wider EU (I’m from UK) and I think we’re better off without them.
It seems that blaming someone else for this mess, or even stating that it isn’t a problem at all, seems tempting for many. Despite the interesting answers, this shifts the discussion from the real issue, that privacy is essential for democracy (see also the great Ted talk above). It seems to me that we are giving away a precious aspect of our civilization, and I’m wondered why politicians can still defend this without understanding the longer term destructing effects that it will have on part of democracy, like an independent voting process. Are they really seeking for the kind of elections that appear in the countries that the same politicians often protest to?
Germany had an explicit policy of not checking up on the Americans because they thought we were above such things. As Merkel said, friends don’t spy on each other. Then it turns out that the US is the only country that does.
How we got into this mess doesn’t matter. Getting out of it does.