What goes around

comes around, and the Germans now have to deal with clear evidence that data collected by the NSA was used by the German foreign spy service BND. The one occasion talked about in the German media is kidnapping of Germans in Yemen.

The BND turned to the Americans and asked for email data from before the abduction.

And they received it, says the German press.

Which makes the claims by German politicians that they are "shocked" about NSA/Tempora/WhateverSnooping moot, some commentators and opposition leaders say.

TheEditor strongly feels the need for a "not so fast". We may well be seeing the snooping version of "don't ask, don't tell", a practical dose of plausible deniability in all its beauty.

If you are not familiar with the concept, go back and look, for instance, at Oliver North's statements in the Iran-Contra hearings before Congress. The Colonel, Mr. North - not the fried chicken one - describes how this concept is put to work.

Having followed the discussions and events in Germany, our best bet regarding the German government's willingness to provide honest and open information to the public is this: not gonna happen.

Since early June, the K-Landnews team has gone through fits of laughter, marveling at the idiosyncracies, the idiolatry, the idiots,  the idocracy, the idioms - pick one or more terms, assign them to whoever you wish, and you can be sure you are supporting an argument made in this debate.

And we have also started to immortalize our cats.

These cats have shown more common sense and more dignity than some humans, and we have wanted to thank them for being who they are. Until the data collection story broke, our plans were quite unimaginative, we must admit.

They ranged from an extra bag of kitty treats (the crack for cats described in an earlier post) to early planning for a tasteful low-budget head stone.

But, given that all encrypted messages are apparently stored for as long as needed to decrypt them, we have started to encrypt photos of the cats and send them  as email attachments.

You may, of course, interpret this in any way you want.

To us, it is art. Surveillance art in line with the philosophy described in the largest free encyclopedia of human knowledge.

Made like a modern day message in a bottle - no human may ever find it.

Made for an audience we will likely never meet.

If you would like to become part of our cat art network, simply email us that the email address at the top of the page.

We will send you an encrypted cat picture and randomly send out a decryption key once a year.  If you are lucky, you get to see the cats.

[Update 17 July 2013]  Today, an article in Zeit online comments extensively on the German government's game of plausible deniability. The K-Landnews Random Research team is elated.