Prosecutors
in Germany have dropped an investigation into alleged hacking of
information from German citizens and officials by the US National
Security Agency (NSA) and its British partner.
The
prosecution service said Thursday that the charges against the NSA
were dropped due to lack of concrete evidence that could prove the
intelligence service and its British partner had been involved in
mass Internet and phone data surveillance in Germany as reports
claimed before the opening of the probe four years ago.
Edward
Snowden, a fugitive US intelligence whistleblower, released documents
in 2013 showing that the US and its allies were conducting sweeping
Internet and phone data surveillance in European Union countries,
including in Germany.
The federal
prosecution said, however, that there was “no hard evidence”
showing that intelligence services “illegally, systematically and
massively” monitored German telecommunications and Internet
traffic.
It said the
US spy service had, in fact, used “techniques and capabilities”
to conduct “strategic signals intelligence” and tap online
communications, but it said “the so-called Snowden documents”
provided “no concrete evidence of actual espionage activities
carried out by the NSA in or against Germany.”
The
prosecution said the conclusion was based on a thorough assessment by
the investigators in partnership with Germany's BfV domestic security
service, which handles counter-espionage, the federal IT security
agency BSI; the NSA parliamentary inquiry; and the operator of a
major European internet hub in Germany.
The US
espionage on Germans sparked a huge controversy when revelations
about the case emerged in 2013. Chancellor Angela Merkel was even
forced to warn the White House that spying between allies was
unacceptable and Berlin could take actions.
The warning
came after local media said the NSA had tapped Merkel’s mobile
phone.
The scandal
further deepened in 2015 when it became clear that Germany’s
intelligence service, BND, had helped the NSA eavesdrop on senior EU
officials.
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