The Netherlands: Dutch Foreign Ministry annouced the expulsion of several Russian diplomats and the closure of Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam.

The Dutch foreign ministry on Saturday announced the expulsion of several Russian diplomats and the closure of Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam, accusing Moscow of using it for spying.

It was the latest development in a dispute over Russia’s failure to grant visas to Dutch diplomats to staff their embassy in Moscow and the consulate in Saint Petersburg.

Because of the lack of staff, the consulate will close on Monday, though the embassy will stay open, the statement added.

“Despite numerous attempts by the Netherlands to find a solution, Russia continues to try to get intelligence officers in the Netherlands under diplomatic cover,” Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in the statement.

“We cannot and will not allow that.”

At the same time, it was important to keep embassies open as a communications channel even with relations with Russia so strained, he added.

The Russian diplomats being told to leave have two weeks to leave the country, while Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam had to be closed from Tuesday, the statement said.

Hoekstra told Dutch broadcaster NOS that he expected around a dozen Russian diplomats would have to leave the country.

Read more at: https://www.macaubusiness.com/dutch-expel-russian-diplomats-close-trade-mission/

German- Turkish relations: Germany investigates man on suspicion of spying for Turkey

Germany's federal prosecutor general announced Friday that the investigation resulting from a raid on a Düsseldorf hotel that saw the arrest of a Turkish man identified as Ali D. was being treated as a case of suspected espionage on behalf of the Turkish state.

Federal Prosecutor General Peter Frank said Ali D. was under investigation on suspicion of collecting information on supporters of the Gulen movement in the Cologne area.

Read more at: Germany investigates man on suspicion of spying for Turkey | News | DW | 01.10.2021

The Atlantic Alliance in trouble: NSA spying row: Denmark helped US gather data on European officials, says report -

Denmark's secret service helped the US spy on European politicians including German Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014, Danish media report.

The Defence Intelligence Service (FE) collaborated with the US National Security Agency (NSA) to gather information, according to a report by Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio.

Intelligence was collected on other officials from Germany, France, Sweden and Norway, according to the report.

Read more at: NSA spying row: Denmark helped US gather data on European officials, says report - BBC News

The science of spying: how the CIA secretly recruits academics - by Daniel Golden

In perhaps its most audacious and elaborate incursion into academia, the CIA has secretly spent millions of dollars staging scientific conferences around the world. Its purpose was to lure Iranian nuclear scientists out of their homeland and into an accessible setting, where its intelligence officers could approach them individually and press them to defect. In other words, the agency sought to delay Iran’s development of nuclear weapons by exploiting academia’s internationalism, and pulling off a mass deception on the institutions that hosted the conferences and the professors who attended and spoke at them. The people attending the conference had no idea they were acting in a drama that simulated reality but was stage-managed from afar. Whether the national security mission justified this manipulation of the professoriate can be debated, but there’s little doubt that most academics would have balked at being dupes in a CIA scheme.

More than any other academic arena, conferences lend themselves to espionage. Assisted by globalisation, these social and intellectual rituals have become ubiquitous. Like stops on the world golf or tennis circuits, they sprout up wherever the climate is favourable, and draw a jet-setting crowd. What they lack in prize money, they make up for in prestige. Although researchers chat electronically all the time, virtual meetings are no substitute for getting together with peers, networking for jobs, checking out the latest gadgets and delivering papers that will later be published in volumes of conference proceedings. “The attraction of the conference circuit,” English novelist David Lodge wrote in Small World, his 1984 send-up of academic life, is that “it’s a way of converting work into play, combining professionalism with tourism, and all at someone else’s expense. Write a paper and see the world!”

The importance of a conference may be measured not just by the number of Nobel prize-winners or Oxford dons it attracts, but by the number of spies. US and foreign intelligence officers flock to conferences for the same reason that army recruiters concentrate on low-income neighbourhoods: they make the best hunting grounds. While a university campus might have only one or two professors of interest to an intelligence service, the right conference – on drone technology, perhaps, or Isis – could have dozens.

“Every intelligence service in the world works conferences, sponsors conferences, and looks for ways to get people to conferences,” said one former CIA operative.

Read more: he science of spying: how the CIA secretly recruits academics | News | The Guardian

EU: French and German votes 'crucial' to Putin's agenda- by Andrew Rettman

Weakening the EU by meddling in French and German elections will be a big feature of Russian foreign policy this year, Russian opposition leader and former prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, has warned.

“The main purpose of Mr Putin is to divide and weaken Europe”, he told EUobserver in an interview from Moscow, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Read more: French and German votes 'crucial' to Putin's agenda

Turkey has stepped up spying in Germany, says Berlin

Erdogan Dictatorship Referendum

Turkey has stepped up spying in Germany, says Berlin

Amid ongoing diplomatic unrest, German intelligence has reported an increase in Turkish spying in Germany. Turkey's Foreign Minister meanwhile has said Berlin "must decide whether Germany is a friend or not."

Read more: Symbolbild NSU Affäre Verfassungsschutz Jahrestag Terrorismus Rechtsradikale (picture-alliance/dpa)   

While tensions between Berlin and Ankara have escalated ahead of next month's referendum on Turkey's presidency, the German government said on Wednesday that there has been a significant increase in Turkish spying in Germany.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, said divisions in Turkey leading up to the controversial April 16 referendum on boosting the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were mirrored in Germany.

"The BfV is observing a significant increase in intelligence efforts by Turkey in Germany," it said in a statement. No further details were provided.

Already strained relations between Germany and Turkey reached a new low this month in a row over canceled Turkish political rallies to drum up support for the impending referendum.

Some 1.4 million Turks living in Germany are eligible to cast their ballot in the vote.

Hoping to calm the storm on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel met with his Turkish counterpart Melvut Cavusoglu in Berlin. While both diplomats agreed on the importance of good relations, Cavusoglu said that Germany must now "decide whether Turkey is a friend or not."

In light of recent comments from both Cavusoglu and Erdogan, Gabriel also made it clear that in maintaining good relations "there are lines that should not be crossed."

"...And one of those is the comparison with Nazi Germany," Gabriel said.

Cavusoglu, meanwhile, said he would host Gabriel for a new round of talks in Turkey "as soon as possible."

In a bid to secure support ahead of next month's referendum, Erdogan himself is also due to hold a rally in Germany. Critics have warned, however that the proposed presidential system which seeks to expand Erdogan's powers as president would cement a one-man rule in the country.

Read more: Turkey has stepped up spying in Germany, says Berlin | News | DW.COM | 08.03.2017

Russia: Putin: Russia won't expel US diplomats - by Laura Smith-Spark and Matthew Chanc

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow will not expel American diplomats in response to US sanctions against Russia.

Putin said he would not pursue "irresponsible diplomacy" and would instead attempt to rebuild relations with Washington after the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

However, Putin said that Russia reserved the right to respond to the new US sanctions, which included the expulsion of 35 diplomats from the US.

The Obama administration said the measures were in response to allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

"Further steps towards the restoration of Russian-American relations will be built on the basis of the policies carried out by the administration of President Trump," a Kremlin statement said.

Read more: Putin: Russia won't expel US diplomats - CNN.com

Obama sanctions Russian officials over election hacking

Responding to evidence that Russia hacked Democratic Party officials during this year's presidential election, the Obama administration Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence officials, expelled 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being spies and shut down two Russian facilities in the United States.

Obama also suggested that the Russians sought to affect previous elections via cyber-espionage, and that the U.S. would engage in covert retaliation activity.

The administration will soon "be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russia’s efforts to interfere in our election, as well as malicious cyber activity related to our election cycle in previous elections," he said.

Read more:Obama sanctions Russian officials over election hacking

Privacy: Of Course the Government Wants to Read Your Texts - by Megan McArdle

Imagine, if you will, a law that said all doors had to be left unlocked so that the police could get in whenever they needed to. Or at the very least, a law mandating that the government have a master key.

That's essentially what some in the government want for your technology. As companies like Apple and Google have embraced stronger encryption, they're making it harder for the government to do the kind of easy instant collection that companies were forced into as the government chased terrorists after 9/11.

And how could you oppose that government access? After all, the government keeps us safe from criminals. Do you really want to make it easier for criminals to evade the law?

The analogy with your home doors suggests the flaw in this thinking: The U.S. government is not the only entity capable of using a master key. Criminals can use them too. If you create an easy way to bypass security, criminals -- or other governments -- are going to start looking for ways to reproduce the keys.

Or consider another case cited by the Times, in which the government is trying to get Microsoft to give up messages stored on a server in Ireland. With today's global networks, it's frustrating how easily criminals can move things out of reach of the law. On the other hand, do we want the law to have farther reach? It might be kind of frightening if other governments, with weaker civil liberties protections, could get access to any of our messages, just by getting an order from their local court.

It's not that the government is wrong about the frustrations. Law enforcement has always had to deal with the problem of criminals who flee the jurisdiction. Over time, things like extradition agreements have reduced that problem to a largely manageable level. But physically removing themselves from the area is very costly for the criminal, who loses the ability to travel freely, to see family and friends, to access assets left behind in the United States.

Moving your messages to a foreign server, on the other hand, requires little in the way of strenuous effort. As the cost of moving evidence beyond an investigator's reach goes down, the cost of an investigation goes up -- even if the foreign courts are cooperative, and they often are, you still have to file a case under different laws that may not map particularly well onto yours.

Read more: Of Course the Government Wants to Read Your Texts - Bloomberg View

USA: Russia hacks Pentagon computers - by Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewsk

U.S. officials tell NBC News that Russia launched a "sophisticated cyberattack" against the Pentagon's Joint Staff unclassified email system, which has been shut down and taken offline for nearly two weeks. According to the officials, the "sophisticated cyber intrusion" occurred sometime around July 25 and affected some 4,000 military and civilian personnel who work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


Sources tell NBC News that it appears the cyberattack relied on some kind of automated system that rapidly gathered massive amounts of data and within a minute distributed all the information to thousands of accounts on the Internet. The officials also report the suspected Russian hackers coordinated the sophisticated cyberassault via encrypted accounts on social media
.
The officials say its not clear whether the attack was sanctioned by the Russian government or conducted by individuals. But, given the scope of the attack, "It was clearly the work of a state actor," the officials say.

They stressed that no classified information was seized or compromised and that only unclassified accounts and emails were hacked.

Note EU-Digest: so what is the big deal? Everyone is spying on each other. 

Read moreL Russia hacks Pentagon computers: NBC, citing sources

Wikileaks: US 'spied on Japan government and companies'

he US has been spying on Japanese cabinet officials, banks and companies, including the Mitsubishi conglomerate, whistleblowing website Wikileaks says.

Documents released by Wikileaks list 35 telephone numbers targeted for interception by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

The surveillance extends back at least eight years, Wikileaks said.

Wikileaks has previously released files showing the US spied on Germany, France and Brazil - like Japan, all allies.

Read more: Wikileaks: US 'spied on Japan government and companies' - BBC News

NSA Spying on EU: Report: Evidence of 2011 US cyberattack on EU defense giant EADS in Germany

"Bild am Sonntag" said on today Sunday July 12 that it inspected a "confidential letter" provided by Germany's foreign intelligence services - the BND - to the domestic intelligence agency - the Verfassungsschutz - outlining a "suspected" attack on European arms manufacturer European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) from American soil.

"From a foreign intelligence service, the BND received information about a suspected data tap at EADS Germany," the letter is reported to have said.

The German news outlet claimed that it was the first shred of evidence of a 2011 cyberattack on the French-German manufacturer, headquartered in Munich, since the onset of collaboration between the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the BND.

"Bild am Sonntag" reported that on November 2, 2011, hackers planted a spy program on the computers of EADS, during which 5,116 "connections" were said to have been found between the company's computers and the US-based "aggressors."

Germany's Protection of the Constitution committee informed EADS - now known as the Airbus Group - that their networks may have been compromised by the apparent attack, which had been initially traced to a server in Los Angeles.

Read more: Report: Evidence of 2011 US cyberattack on defense giant EADS in Germany | News | DW.COM | 12.07.2015

USA -NSA SPYING: Obama pledges to end ′unacceptable′ tactics after France spying row - LOL

US President Barack Obama spoke with his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, on Wednesday after reports emerged that his government spied on French leaders, a statement from the French president's office said.

"President Obama reiterated unequivocally his firm commitment … to end the practices that may have happened in the past, and that are unacceptable among allies," the statement said.

The two presidents discussed "the principles that should govern relations between allies in the domain of intelligence."

French intelligence officials will visit Washington some time soon to discuss the matter, the statement added.
Obama made a similar pledge to Germany in 2013 after former CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked confidential information about the extent of the US National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance. The documents showed that the NSA has tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.

Note  EU-Digest: "end the practices that may have happened in the past, and that are unacceptable among allies" LOL


Read more: Obama pledges to end ′unacceptable′ tactics after France spying row | News | DW.COM | 24.06.2015

US NSA SPYIING CHARGES: France’s Hollande Calls Defense Cabinet Meeting After NSA Spying Claims - by S. Schechner and W. Horobin

French President François Hollande plans to convene top defense advisers on Wednesday after WikiLeaks published documents that purportedly show that the U.S. spied on him and his two predecessors.

The six documents, also published late Tuesday by two French publications, describe purported U.S. surveillance of internal deliberations and conversations of Mr. Hollande and former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

The White House late Tuesday said that it is not now spying on Mr. Hollande and that it would not undertake such surveillance against him in the future. The statement did not deny that spying had taken place in the past.

“We do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose,” said Ned Price, White House National Security Council spokesman. “This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike.”

It wasn’t immediately possible to authenticate the documents, which span a period from 2006 to 2012. WikiLeaks has leaked documents in the past that were later authenticated.

Mr. Hollande’s office said Wednesday’s meeting would seek to “evaluate the nature” of the leaked documents and “draw useful conclusions.”

An aide to Mr. Sarkozy told the Associated Press that the former president considers these methods unacceptable, especially from an ally. Mr. Chirac didn’t immediately comment, the AP reported.

The latest leak detailing alleged U.S. spying on European allies is likely to worsen simmering trans-Atlantic tensions over surveillance.

Note EU-Digest - with friends like this who needs any enemies?

Read more: France’s Hollande Calls Defense Cabinet Meeting After NSA Spying Claims - WSJ

Prepare yourself for a world of constant surveillance by insurance companies

Nest, a connected-appliance company owned by Google, announced yesterday that it has partnered with insurance companies to offer discounts to customers willing to share data generated by Nest’s smoke detector.

According to Quartz reporter Alice Truong, who attended the Nest launch event, the data shared with insurance companies is just to make sure that Wi-Fi, batteries, and sensors are working properly. In return, American Family Insurance and Liberty Mutual, two insurance companies, will offer customers discounts on their premiums, amounting to about 5%.

On the face of it, this makes sense. Insurance companies are in the business of measuring—and, where possible, minimizing—risk. If they can be assured that a homeowner is taking steps to avoid a fire, then they can be more confident offering insurance. And the lower risk of a fire can be reflected in a lower price to the insurance buyer.

Consumers have long been accustomed to sharing their financial information with credit rating agencies and, more recently, their web browsing and mobile phone data with the advertising and marketing industries. Now, it is the actuaries who want to know what you’re up to.

In some cases, such tracking makes insurance possible for people who otherwise had no access to it. In South Africa, one company offers life insurance to HIV-positive people so long as they agree to regular blood tests and anti-retroviral medication. It is in the best interests of the company to keep its policyholders healthy.

The most widespread use of tracking has been for auto insurance. Progressive, an American insurer, provides discounts of between 10% and 15% to customers who agree to share data on their driving habits with the company. In Italy and the UK, this usage-based insurance has been growing in popularity, with up to a fifth of all car insurance policies linked to tracking.

A report (pdf) about usage-based car insurance published last year by Deloitte predicted that the auto industry was just the beginning: “Before too long the use of sensory technologies that permit behavioral underwriting by insurers is likely to be expanded beyond auto insurance into homeowners, life and health coverages, and perhaps even non-auto commercial lines as well, such as workers’ compensation.”

That future is creeping into view. The worry is that if such forms of insurance become mainstream, sharing data may no longer be optional in practice: instead of a discount for those who do, there may be penalties for those who don’t. “In the end, serving the ‘naysayers’ may become a specialty market niche for some carriers,” the Deloitte report suggested.\\

EU-Digest

Spying - Germany Limits Cooperation With U.S. Over Data Gathering

Germany has curbed its cooperation with United States intelligence, pushing back against a key ally amid new revelations of spying on Germans and other Europeans that have set off a domestic firestorm.

The decision to limit Germany’s collection of information as part of joint intelligence efforts signals a breach in a long and close relationship — one that until now had been protected by Chancellor Angela Merkel, even when documents revealed in 2013 that American surveillance in Europe was so extensive it had swept up her cellphone number.

For the United States, it is another blow to its intelligence apparatus, which in the past few weeks has seen a reassessment of its drone program after the inadvertent killing of Americans; an appeals court ruling on Thursday that bulk collection of surveillance data is illegal; and Congress taking up renewal of the U.S.A. Patriot Act.

In Germany, it leaves Ms. Merkel still struggling to explain to her critics whether her government had done enough to monitor surveillance by Germans and Americans, and had acted swiftly enough to curtail overreach. She has also maintained that Germany needs the Americans to help keep its 80 million citizens safe.

Read more: Germany Limits Cooperation With U.S. Over Data Gathering - NYTimes.com

Spying is bad for business: NSA spying caused 9 percent of foreign firms to dump U.S. clouds - by Mike Wheatley

In the weeks following Edward Snowden’s revelations of the NSA’s massive web surveillance program PRISM, speculation was raised about the negative implications it could have on U.S. cloud companies.

Now, Forrester Research has taken the time to see just what kind of impact it has had, asking a host of foreign firms whether or not PRISM has caused them to scale back their spending on U.S. cloud services, and the answer makes for some uneasy reading.

A total of 1,668 non-U.S. business technology decision makers were quizzed in Forrester’s survey. The exact question asked was “In the past year, has your company explicitly halted or reduced your spending with US-based companies for Internet-based services (e.g., cloud, online service/outsourcing) due to these security concerns?”, with 26 percent of respondents answering in the affirmative.

Forrester followed up by asking the 427 who said yes what their reasons for doing so were, and found that 34 percent cited “fear of the intelligence community spying”. A quick sum of the math shows that 9 percent of foreign firms have therefore ditched U.S. cloud companies due to the NSA, not an insignificant number by any means, despite The Register’s insistence that “Snowden didn’t scare off many”.

It’s worth nothing that the respondents held, on average, only about a third of their company data in U.S. clouds anyway, so their decision to pull out may not be as significant as it first seems. But even so, U.S. cloud firms will still want to take notice of the survey, which indicates that most foreign companies simply don’t trust them all that much anyway, irrespective of the NSA. In total, 53 percent of respondents said they would not trust any of their critical data with a U.S. cloud company, end of story.

Read more: NSA spying caused 9 percent of foreign firms to dump U.S. clouds | SiliconANGLE

EU: Leave Facebook if you don't want to be spied on by US, warns EU - by Samuel Gibbs

The European Commission has warned EU citizens that they should close their Facebook accounts if they want to keep information private from US security services, finding that current Safe Harbour legislation does not protect citizen’s data.

The case, dubbed “the Facebook data privacy case”, concerns the current Safe Harbour framework, which covers the transmission of EU citizens’ data across the Atlantic to the US. Without the framework, it is against EU law to transmit private data outside of the EU. The case collects complaints lodged against Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Microsoft-owned Skype and Yahoo.

Schrems maintains that companies operating inside the EU should  not be allowed to transfer data to the US under Safe Harbour protections – which state that US data protection rules are adequate if information is passed by companies on a “self-certify” basis – because the US no longer qualifies for such a status.

The case argues that the US government’s Prism data collection program, revealed by Edward Snowden in the NSA files, which sees EU citizens’ data held by US companies passed on to US intelligence agencies, breaches the EU’s Data Protection Directive “adequacy” standard for privacy protection, meaning that the Safe Harbour framework no longer applies and does not protect citizen’s data.

The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard Schima in a case brought by privacy campaigner Maximilian Schrems, looking at whether the data of EU citizens should be considered safe if sent to the US in a post-Snowden revelation landscape.

“You might consider closing your Facebook account, if you have one,” Schima told attorney general Yves Bot in a hearing of the case at the European court of justice in Luxembourg.

Read more: Leave Facebook if you don't want to be spied on, warns EU | Technology | The Guardian

Personal Privacy Laws: Britain: Mass spying on UK citizens ‘essential,’ say MPs in landmark report

A British Parliamentary report examining the mass collection of private communications by UK security agencies has defended the practice as “essential.”

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report, published on Thursday, said only a “tiny” proportion of data collected was ever seen by human eyes.
 
Intelligence agencies “do not seek to circumvent the law” and must seek the “specific authorization” of a cabinet minister before spying on individuals in the UK, the ISC said.

However, the committee also said the current legal framework surrounding surveillance “lacks transparency” and is “unnecessarily complicated.”

The ISC called for a single law to be introduced to regulate UK security services and their bulk collection of private communications.

Read more: Mass spying on UK citizens ‘essential,’ say MPs in landmark report — RT UK

Surveillance: 9 Ways You're Being Spied On Every Day

Casinos. Banks. Airports. We all know there are public places where we're being watched, ostensibly for crime-prevention purposes. But with the advancement of digital technologies, "Big Brother's" reach has gotten way wider, recording our movements—and our conversations—in a surprising amount of places.

"Big Brother is becoming more and more intrusive in our private lives and until something is done to scale it back or eliminate it, it's only going to get worse," says David Bakke, Money Crashers tech expert.

Read more: 9 Ways You're Being Spied On Every Day