German Journalists Urged To Avoid Google And Yahoo

The recent spying allegations against the US National Security Agency (NSA) have prompted the union representing German journalists to advise its members not to use Google or Yahoo services.

This comes after Google said this week that it was “outraged” over reports that the NSA may have harvested its information by directly tapping into the fibre optic channels connecting Google and Yahoo data centres.

Journalist boycott

British Intelligence at GCHQ is also said to have gathered information using the same method, but as the UK has no real global software presence (other than accounting firm Sage of course), the German union instructed its members to boycott the American giants Google and Yahoo.

“The German Federation of Journalists recommends journalists to avoid, until further notice, the use of search engines and e-mail services from Google and Yahoo for their research and digital communication,” the union said in a statement, which was reported by Reuters.

“The searches made by journalists are just as confidential as the contact details of their sources and the contents of their communication with them,” Michael Konken, head of the union which represents about 38,000 journalists, was quoted as saying. He added that there were safe alternatives for both searches and email.

The union call to boycott Google and Yahoo comes after more classified documents were disclosed by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and published in the Washington Post. Those documents suggested that the data was collected outside the US, where the privacy guidelines are less restrictive, and then processed by an NSA programme codenamed ‘MUSCULAR’, operated in partnership with UK’s GCHQ.

According to the Washington Post, the NSA intercepted millions of data exchanges going through the network infrastructure operated by Google and Yahoo.

Spying Tensions

US snooping claims come amid heightened tensions between the US and Europe, with relationshps damaged by allegations that the NSA had been spying on at least 35 European leaders, including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Denials by President Obama on the matter have failed to convince both German politicians and media.

These latest accusations have prompted the US Secretary of State John Kerry to admit that in some cases, US spying has gone too far.

The issue of snooping by foreign intelligence services is especially sensitive in Germany, the country which has some of the strictest privacy laws in the world, as evidenced by its decision to fine Google €145,000 (£124,000) over the Street View scandal.

Meanwhile, Snowden continues to live in Russia, and apparently has this week begun a new job as a tech support for a Russian website.

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