Hackers take advantage of "state spying software" in Germany

Picture from Jacobo Garcia on Flickr

As you likely know, the Canadian government’s proposed online spying laws are dangerous. Instead of making Internet users safer, they reduce our security and increase the probability of cybercrime. If the online spying bills pass, we will become victims of the government’s inability to see beyond their immediate worries. Harper's poorly thought-out spying bill can, and will, create more problems than solutions for Canada's growing Internet based society.

Germany has become a prime example of the worrisome shortcomings of the online spying scheme. The German government has come under fire as accusations of their use of possibly illegal (and highly insecure) surveillance software have surfaced.

The Chaos Computer Club (CCC), a world known hacker organization, has discovered that a spying software used to monitor people’s activities, search and transmit information and even able to plant data on computers, was found on German government hard drives. This software is said to have been used by German authorities to surveil Internet users without their knowledge, much like the software the Canadian online spying bills would mandate.

The existence of such software is not only preoccupying, but also dangerous because it is replete with defects. The CCC found that the software could be easily hacked by anyone with enough skill. It seems that the software was not protected enough to even keep the information it accessed confidential and secure from others.

So now the fight in Germany has turned to whether government has actually used this software and questions of legality within the German legal framework. However, shouldn’t the discussion revolve around the existence of this software in the first place, and how any form of government online surveillance is subject to insecurity? In many ways online spying may work to support criminal activity by making us all prey to information theft and cybercrime.

We should take the German example as a forewarning of the dangerous ground Canadians tread.

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Take a stand against warrantless online spying at http://www.StopSpying.ca