The German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) instructed the authorities of multiple North African and Middle Eastern countries in internet surveillance in the years running up to the Arab Spring, according to information released by the German government following questioning by Die Linke (Left Party) in April 2013. [1] Training in Tunisia and Egypt occurred shortly before the revolts in those countries, where control of the internet played a key role in allowing the government to undermine the uprisings.
Participants in the BKA-run courses were secret service-like police forces, such as the Egyptian State Security Service („Staatssicherheitsdienst“). Agencies from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria also benefited from the seminars. Furthermore, Moroccan agencies received material aid including, among other things, police analytic software developed by IBM. German police instructed Tunisia and Egypt on internet surveillance prior to revolutions weiterlesen