‘German secret service shared internet traffic Germans with NSA’

The German secret service BND is said to have shared raw data about internet traffic with American colleagues from the NSA for years. Despite promises, data from German internet users would also have been shared with the NSA.

The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung claims to have received documents showing that the Germans and Americans worked together for years under the code name Eikonal. In Frankfurt, which is home to one of the world’s largest internet hubs, the NSA was given the opportunity to wiretap internet traffic.

According to the documents, Eikonal was shut down in 2008 after it emerged that data from German citizens was repeatedly sent to the NSA. Research by the BND would have shown that 5 percent of German internet traffic could not be filtered. The shutdown of Eikonal is said to have angered the Americans, who then demanded access to another European internet traffic center. However, the Germans did not respond to this, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Earlier it appeared that the German secret service gave the NSA access to internet traffic that was routed through Germany. However, it was then said that German citizens’ internet traffic had been filtered out before handing it over to the Americans. So, if the information is correct, this does not seem to have always been the case. The BND has not yet responded to the publication of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The collaboration between the German and American secret services is part of a parliamentary investigation. The Commission of Inquiry demanded access to all documents in the case, which were then likely leaked to the media. Germany has had a strained relationship with the United States in the field of espionage for some time, after it turned out that Chancellor Merkel and other German politicians were bugged by the Americans.