Unfunny Germans

Did you read our tweet of 18 July?

"German 2 (two!!) Prisms danger! Fell off chair laughing: bruises and sprained ankle. Healthcare system works fine, so Prism #3 next?"

We told you so!

The German media are now reporting 3 prisms, for instance this article in Die Welt. 

The Chief of Staff of Ms. Merkel has made a marvelous re-appearance and faced the parliamentary committee in charge of overseeing all German intelligence agencies.

The man says that only very few (the media say two) datasets on German citizens were given to the NSA last year. To us, this indicates that very likely quite a few more data sets of people who are not German citizens were shoved down the Internet pipe to the Americans.

Regarding reports, substantiated by an NSA memo, that the German foreign spy chief Mr. Schindler had lobbies the German government for a "more relaxed" interpretation of German data protection laws, the Chief said that the spymaster had not put in any written request for less tight interpretation.

To us, this means that yes, the spymaster almost certainly talked about it a bunch but was too cautious to leave a paper trail or a byte con trail.

Any other news spy-wise in the K-Land?

Nothing we haven't heard heard since June in more or less similar broken chains of logic. The snide remarks about the kid seeking asylum in a country with a dodgy record, claims that the Russians loved to show the spook equivalent of the finger to the U.S., and a German chancellor who says nothing.

We'll bask in the unexpected glory of beating everybody to the three prisms, which may turn out to be just one after all - if you know a little about the physics of light, you understand.

The one bright spot has been the congressional vote that almost defunded the most egregious bits of boundless inter-US recording.