Hacker, Snowden Supporter Says Berlin Apartment Was Snooped

Posted: 11:39 pm, December 21, 2013 by MunichNOW News

Dear USA: Might Doesn't Make Right, And Moles Make Miserable Allies - - photo: dpa

Berlin demonstration with huge puppets — photo: dpa

Berlin (dpa) - An American internet activist who is also a supporter of whistleblower Edward Snowden told a Berlin newspaper Saturday that someone broke into his apartment and tampered with his computer.

Jacob Appelbaum, an independent computer security researcher and hacker, is one of the few people with access to internal documents belonging to the US National Security Agency (NSA), according to the Berliner Zeitung.

Appelbaum has demanded encryption safeguards to curtail the power of secret government agencies like the NSA.

“Our communications infrastructure currently is set up so that authorities can latch on anytime,” he said, according to the Berliner Zeitung. “The problem is that is how the NSA always has access to the data.”

Snowden has been a thorn in the side of the US government since he began releasing internal documents to the media revealing the extent of government surveillance of telephone and internet records, as well as spying on foreign leaders’ mobile phones.

US prosecutors have charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property. He fled the United States in May and has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.