Angela Merkel's phone was being listened in on by FIVE foreign powers German chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile was wire-tapped by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, unnamed German security officials have told Focus magazine. The bugging of the premier's BlackBerry by the US provoked an international diplomatic incident and a promise by the Obama administration to lay off in future. But …
"how many of the buggers knew how many other buggers were on her phone?"
Probably none, since the signal is broadcast and easily deciphered so you wouldn't need much more than some fancy radio equipment to become one of the other buggers. As the story mentions, this is all so well known within security circles that there almost isn't a story here. To a state-sponsored spook, a mobile phone is basically an unsecured medium, like plaintext email, or postcards.
"If Russia & China are tapping Merkel's calls in Germany, they've gotta be doing the same to politicians in the US. The smartphones that members of Congress use to to call, tweet (and in some cases, sext)? They are no more secure than Merkel's"
Gee, you think? I always wondered how come so many representatives are ready to defend Israel to the last US marine or keep shtum at appropriate moments. Carrots in unlabeled envelopes, sure. But the stick goes a long way, too.
However Obama administration officials turned down the offer out of concerns "that letting him leave would wrongly hand Snowden a win"
1) Never admit to wrongdoing
2) Everything is personal
3) DRAMA!!
4) Persistent complaints of "not enough money to survive" after interminable shopping sprees
...aaaand...
5) The ear on the phone at ANY time
when this first came out
"I bet the yanks are'nt the only ones listening in on private conversations"
Mind you... perhaps the leaders should take it as a status symbol... that your country is rated highly enough to deserve having the leader's phone hacked and listened to by everyone else
"If Russia & China are tapping Merkel's calls in Germany, they've gotta be doing the same to politicians in the US."
They won't get anything as they don't actually work. They can't pass a bill except on to the taxpayers. Then you have politicians at the state level and they are sending penis pics, doing drugs or putting their foot in their mouth.
@Todd Anderson:
Re:"Why [doesn't] the Great Chancellor of Germany have and use an encrypted phone?"
Maybe she does. At least some of the leaders had to know their official phones were bugged and maybe that suited them fine to use disinformation to foil adversaries. At that level lying comes so naturally they would barely notice.
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