German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) instructed Tunisia and Egypt in internet surveillance technologies shortly before

the Arab Spring

By Matthias Monroy | Published: 29.04.2013 at 7:45h | Source: https://netzpolitik.org/2013/bundeskriminalamt-schulte-tunesien-und-agypten-kurzvor-dem-arabischen-fruhling-in-techniken-zur-internetuberwachung/#more-46983

The German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) instructed multiple Arab Spring-countries in monitoring the internet. This follows from an answer of the German government to a Minor Inquiry (German) asked last week by the party Die Linke. Such trainings in Tunisia and Egypt happened shortly before the revolts. The control of the internet played a key role in the governmental abolition of the revolts in both countries. Participants of these BKA-courses were secret police like the Egyptian Security Service, which was stormed and dissolved after successful protests. But also Security Agencies from Jordan, Saudi-Arabia and Algeria benefited from the seminars. The actions were justified with the war against terror a compliant instrument used in the said countries to oppress the opposition. Furthermore agencies in Morocco received material aid; this includes amongst other things police analytic software by IBM. The wording of the answer:

In the period of Oct. 24 to Oct. 28 2010 a training course about Open Source Internet analysis in the field of international terrorism was held in favor of the Egyptian State Security Agency. In the period of Feb. 10 to Feb. 12 2009 a training course about Cyber crime in the field of terrorism was held at the African Centre for Studies and Research on Terrorism (CAERT) in favor of Algeria. In the period of Nov. 23 to Nov. 27 2008 a training course about Cyber crime / Financial Investigation in the field of terrorism was held in favor of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate (GID). In the period of Nov. 26 to Dec. 31 2007 analytic software was delivered in favor of the Moroccan Direction Gnrale de la Scurit Nationale (DGSN). This is the analytic software i2 Analysts Notebook, which is available over the counter and used by all constitutional security agencies. Furthermore from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14. a working visit was made at the DGSN about the topic of Cyber crime / Field of Terrorism. In the period of Oct. 07 to Oct. 09 2008 a training course about Cyber crime / Field of terrorism was held in favor of the DGSN.

In the period of Oct. 25 to Oct. 2008 a training course about Cyber crime in the field of terrorism was held together with the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) in Riad in favor of Saudi-Arabia, as a training course in the period of Oct. 10 to Oct. 14 2009 about Cyber crime in the field of terrorism with the Saudian ministry of interior. In the period of May 03 to May 09 2008 a training course about Police Operational tactics and methods was held in favor of the Tunisian Police Judiciaire. From Nov. 22 until Nov. 26. 2010 a training course about Open Source Internet analysis in the field of terrorism was held in favor of the Tunisian Direction de la Scurit Extrieure (DSE).

The now published details are evocative of the sales promotions regarding the German Trojan software by the BKA. The agency travelled through Europe, North America and Israel in tupperware partystyle and explained the usage of German Trojans. Later also the British Trojan developer Gamma International held a showcase. Its quite possible that the BKA during its training courses about Cyber crime / Financial Investigation in the field of terrorism also taught agencies in North Africa in the use of digital spying tools. Back then Tunisia received beta-versions of surveillance software from western developers for little money to test them. After the storm on the State Security Agency in Egypt having, as it seems, good relations with the BKA - a selling offer by the company Gamma International or rather their German offset Elaman was found. Collaboration with BKA, Federal Police, Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution was intensified At the same time the BKA gave training-aid in Internet surveillance bloggers in Tunisia and Egypt were arrested and tortured. This practice seems to continue: Now an activist in Tunisia was sentenced to 7 years jail because he insulted the Islam online. The situation is so tenuous that multiple Tunisian civic- and human rights organizations started last week an appeal to call attention to the violation of freedom of opinion. The German agencies dont seem to be touched by that: The collaboration with the ArabSpring-countries was even intensified after the revolutions. Some weeks ago the Department for Foreign Affairs informed that all Polices and Secret Services of the Federal Ministry of the Interior help to polish up the Tunisian security sector. This includes a so-called Security sector reform in the context of a transformation partnership between Germany and Tunisia. The Federal Police aids with vocational trainings for the reconstruction of a working migration control. During workshops technologies for border security at airports and on sea are taught. That alone costs around 650.000 Euro. Also the BKA is at the scene with workshops. This includes the detection of drug smuggling, vehicle crime or staff recruiting of members of the police. Additional training courses are bout improved securing of a crime scene, which generally includes digital forensics to secure evidences on mobile phones, computers and storage media. In November the ministry organized a seminar on police strategies at demonstrations, carried out by the federal state Hessen. Officials of the BKA furthermore conducted investigations to find assets and properties of the ex-president who fled to Saudi Arabia. The financial investigations were initiated by Tunisia with the Federal Justice Department via diplomatic channels. Nevertheless the federal government renounced to propose to Saudi Arabia the extradition of Ben Ali.

The most questionable German contribution to the Tunisian Security Sector Reform however comes from the intelligence agencies: The Federal Intelligence Agency BND, in this country again discredited because of the NSU Affair, taught spies in Tunis since last spring in the field of Intelligence Services in a Democracy. More concrete contributions are made by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The domestic intelligence service smoothly continues the collaboration the BKA started under Ben Ali and instructs Tunisian agencies in counter-terrorism. Additional workshops about wiretapping mobile phones and internet telephony by order of the EU To support the Security Sector Reform the EU commission sends 14 specialists for Informationtrading and technical support to Tunisia. The European Union also sponsors a triennial project called Euromed Police with 5 million Euro. Polices of Arabic and North African states arre there trained for international collaborations; according training courses focus on new technologies and investigation techniques . Euromed Police is for members of the police, quasi-military gendarmeries, special forces and also departments specialized on financial investigation and cyber crime. Amongst others the governments of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and the Palestinian National Authority are taking part. One of the 18 workshops in Euromed Police with the title Collecting, Storing, Sorting, Evaluating covers the analysis of information relevant to investigations. The training course lasting for several weeks was conducted by French policemen and gendarmes. It included teaching on processing finger print data, DNA information as well as the electronical analysis of sounds, voices and drugs. An own part had the evaluation of computers, mobile phones and USB-storages. Two additional trainings were about controlling the internet. The covered spy tools are severe: Technologies for wiretapping mobile phones and internet telephony were taught.