Opposition politicians have demanded government clarification of reports German secret services spied for the NSA. It came as intelligence chiefs confirmed closer surveillance of social network users.
Domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said on Thursday it would increase monitoring of communications on social networks with a new unit which will “better evaluate” data collected online.
Under a law called G10, security services have powers to intercept and monitor communications if given approval by a judge.
While affecting social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, the BfV stressed it would only target terrorists and extremists and it would not lead to the mass collection of data or “untargeted measures”. The secret service added it would stay strictly within its legal framework.
But the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported earlier that the BfV’s chief Hans-Georg Maaßen wanted to develop a system which collected “large amounts of online data”. (more)
Read the whole story here:
http://www.thelocal.de/20140627/german-spies-target-social-networks
Source: The Local - DPA