Internet exchange DE-CIX sues German government for wiretapping

The internet exchange operator DE-CIX has sued the German government for tapping its nodes. The organization wants to achieve that a judge pronounces on the legality of the taps.

According to DE-CIX, the authority for the wiretapping is based on the G10 law, but the organization doubts whether the government has adhered to the necessary safeguards. This law defines the powers of the German intelligence and security services in the field of interception of communications. DE-CIX said in a press release before the weekend that the indictment serves to assure customers that the wiretapping is taking place legally and to provide legal certainty for its customers.

The administrator sees his arguments supported by a recently published report by the former president of the highest German court, Hans-Jürgen Papier. In it he came to the conclusion that the tapping of internet nodes, including those of DE-CIX, by the German secret service BND is illegal. The German site Netzpolitik writes that the indictment concerns a specific part of the G10 legislation, which regulates wiretapping without a suspect. However, the limits of this power would at the very least be unclear.

This conclusion is also reflected in the report. According to Netzpolitik, it became known in 2013 that the German BND had had official access to the DE-CIX nodes and thus to the data of various providers since 2011. Statistics previously released showed, among other things, that the German government had access to 37 million emails in 2010.

DE-CIX, which stands for Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange, is the largest internet exchange in the world when it comes to data traffic. The organization manages several hubs, including in Germany, the US, Dubai, France and Turkey.