German "Bundesnetzagentur" requesting Fastmail to register in Germany

[xor]

The German "Bundesnetzagentur" (German government organization for network regulation) has requested Fastmail to officially register with them (see German article here).

Germany requires all email providers to offer remote interfaces for government agencies to conveniently and secretly access all their customer's email. Also, Germany has just passed aggressive laws to spy on their citizens, requiring network providers to store citizen's communication metadata and allowing the deployment of trojan software to hack into the computers of citizens even for minor offenses. In addition, Germany is about to pass an aggressive internet censorship law.

In the light of these developments, please, Fastmail, do not make any concessions to any German government organization. It will be used to force you into spying on your German customers. Please resist!

[n5bb]

See:
https://www.fastmail.com/help/accoun...available.html

Bill

[TheJapanese]

Yes. Please resist.

But what about google and other companies. Did they already give their ok? Why only fastmail? And why in general? They do not offer any German services at all?

[edu]

Does it mean that posteo.de is also compromised? They store the emails encrypted (if you choose this option) but I don't know if they can be forced to do the opposite or read them before they are encrypted.

[misc]

Originally Posted by xor

Germany requires all email providers to offer remote interfaces for government agencies to conveniently and secretly access all their customer's email.

Any sources for this? Never heard about such a law (which doesn't mean it doesn't exist).

The quoted article at Heise says the trouble would be about whether FastMail has to officially identify themselves to Bundesnetzagentur as a "commercial provider of telecommunication services".

[joe_devore]

GOOD GAWD!... were back to FEDERAL/CENTRAL/GOV/FASCIST TYRANNY AGAIN in Germany!!!??? YOU THINK they would have learned from the first time they got brainwashed and let NAZI party TAKE oVER and nearly burn all of Europe to the ground, never mind the rest of the world...



Then there is the CIA/NSA/etc agencies in the USA an ALL the domestic spying they doing ALL IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY

[xor]

Originally Posted by misc

Any sources for this? Never heard about such a law (which doesn't mean it doesn't exist).

This is the law since 2005. See here.

Originally Posted by misc

The quoted article at Heise says the trouble would be about whether FastMail has to officially identify themselves to Bundesnetzagentur as a "commercial provider of telecommunication services".

Yes, but with the "registration" come all the other "goodies" like having to provide the mentioned interfaces for snooping on user's emails. This is what the request really is about.

[xor]

Originally Posted by edu

Does it mean that posteo.de is also compromised? They store the emails encrypted (if you choose this option) but I don't know if they can be forced to do the opposite or read them before they are encrypted.

German government interception (also) happens on the protocol level (they intercept SMTP, IMAP, HTTP, etc)

If you do not encrypt the email content before(!) it leaves your own computer, then, yes, you can be targeted by these interfaces.

Therefore, encrypt in your own local mail client, do not rely on web browser interface encryption.

[janusz]

Originally Posted by xor

This is the law since 2005. See here.

So it took you 12 years to get worked up about it....

Whatever the legal requirements are, I see no reason why Fastmail should be made a special case and be exempted. If FM prefers to withdraw from the German market, there is no shortage of alternative providers.

[joe_devore]

Originally Posted by janusz

So it took you 8 years to get worked up about it....

Whatever the legal requirements are, I see no reason why FastMail should be made a special case and be exempted. If FM prefers to withdraw from the German market, there is no shortage of alternative providers.

GOOD GAWD.. GERMANY HAS GONE FULL INSANE/EVIL AGAIN!!
So Germany does not protect its citizens RIGHTS?

The operator has to bear the costs, both for the provision of the monitoring technology and for the concrete implementation.
Appropriate solutions cost around 20,000 euros.

ERhh SERIOUSLY!!
$22,588.10 US Dollar... THAT IS A LOT OF $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[janusz]

Originally Posted by joe_devore

GOOD GAWD.. GERMANY HAS GONE FULL INSANE

So have some users here

[joe_devore]

Originally Posted by janusz

So have some users here

lol haha...

[FredOnline]

Originally Posted by janusz

So have some users here

In a nutshell, with emphasis on the first syllable.

[mballas]

Originally Posted by FredOnline

In a nutshell, with emphasis on the first syllable.

The Joker is Wild.

[xor]

Originally Posted by janusz

So it took you 12 years to get worked up about it....

No, it bothered me since the law was conceived. And this is why I did not use a German email provider since.

Originally Posted by janusz

Whatever the legal requirements are, I see no reason why Fastmail should be made a special case and be exempted. If FM prefers to withdraw from the German market, there is no shortage of alternative providers.

The attack vector the German government found seems to be Fastmail's app offered in the German app stores. The app has been pulled now it seems. Hopefully, that will suffice.

Oh, and btw.: Germany now requires Youtube bloggers to get a German broadcasting license. No kidding!