Germany’s biggest bank has been accused of mounting a Stasi-style entrapment operation against a prominent shareholder regarded as a troublemaker. The German authorities are considering launching a criminal investigation into whether Deutsche Bank plotted a honeytrap sting on Michael Bohndorf, a tax lawyer who has bombarded the annual shareholder meetings with embarrassing questions since 2003…
Category: Surveillance
A request to snoop on public every 60 seconds
Councils, police and other public bodies are seeking access to people’s private telephone and email records almost 1,400 times a day, new figures have disclosed. The authorities made more than 500,000 requests for confidential communications data last year, equivalent to spying on one in every 78 adults, leading to claims that Britain had “sleepwalked into…
2nd Circuit rebuffs attempt to obtain Spitzer wiretap data
The New York Times has lost its bid to obtain wiretap information related to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement in a prostitution ring. The federal law that permits disclosure of wiretap information on a showing of good cause does not allow disclosure based solely on the news media’s interest in publishing the information,…
Swiss artist fights biometric passport
From his self-chosen exile in Berlin, a Swiss-born artist has been battling Switzerland’s decision to introduce a biometric passport. Adam Tellmeister places the scalpel on his brand new Swiss passport and cuts right through its blood-red outer fabric. It’s the first cut of an operation — broadcast live on the Internet — that is aimed…