Germany was in an uproar when news broke that the National Security Agency (NSA) had been monitoring Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone calls and communications. Now it turns out that German intelligence agency BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) was passing select information — including phone numbers and IP addresses — to the NSA on politicians and defense contractors in Europe, reports Der Spiegel.
The BND carefully selected data based on several criteria, much like the NSA does in the U.S., but now the German parliament is reconsidering how much information the BND can share with the American agency. The German parliament revealed that the information had been shared in accordance with an agreement between the U.S. and Germany to share select intelligence garnered by the BND. The parliament may revise the agreement to limit the amount of sensitive information that can be shared between the two countries.
In addition to spying on Merkel’s phone, the NSA seems to have abused its power over the BND in order to monitor defense contractors’ communications for trade secrets. Defense contractors such as Skybus European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company were both spied upon by the NSA, and it’s hardly a coincidence that both companies compete with U.S. defense contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The NSA also took information on many German and French politicians, although it’s unclear why the agency would need to spy on their actions.
To make matters worse, it seems that the BND did not inform the Chancellor’s office that it was passing sensitive information on politicians and defense contractors to the NSA. As such, it’s expected that the head of the BND, Gerhard Schindler, will likely resign from his post soon.
The revelations of the NSA’s abuse of the intelligence relationship between the U.S. and Germany could affect the outcome of negotiations over the US-EU trade agreement, which is known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Many Germans are already against the trade agreement, and the news that the U.S. may have been stealing trade secrets and monitoring its politicians is hardly likely to help matters.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.