BBC News, 2
August 2013
Germans take data protection very seriously |
US spy
leaks
Germany has
cancelled a Cold War-era pact with the US and Britain in response to
revelations about electronic surveillance operations.
Details of
snooping programmes involving the transatlantic allies have been leaked to the
media by former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
The
revelations have sparked widespread outrage in Germany, where elections are due
next month.
The
agreement dates from 1968-9, and its cancellation is largely symbolic.
German
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement: "The cancellation
of the administrative agreements, which we have pushed for in recent weeks, is
a necessary and proper consequence of the recent debate about protecting
personal privacy."
Germans'
experience of mass surveillance under the Communist and Nazi dictatorships
makes them particularly sensitive to perceived infringements of personal
privacy, and the country has strong data protection laws.
The
agreement cancelled on Friday gave the Western countries which had troops
stationed in West Germany - the US, Britain and France - the right to request
surveillance operations to protect those forces.
'No impact'
A German
official told the Associated Press news agency that the agreement had not been
invoked since the end of the Cold War, and admitted that the decision would
have no impact on current intelligence co-operation.
Angela Merkel has raised her concerns about US surveillance with President Obama |
A
spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office told reporters that the agreement had
not been in use since 1990.
Henning
Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations told AP that the German
government needed to do something to demonstrate at home that it was taking the
issue seriously.
"Ending
an agreement made in the pre-internet age gives the Germans a chance to show
they're doing something, and at the same time the Americans know it's not going
to hurt them.
"Given
the good relations between the intelligence agencies, they'll get the
information they need anyway," he said.
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