A Specifically German Profile of Competence

BERLIN (Own report) - At a trade fair in Dubai next week, German companies in "Security" industries will be seeking to land new contracts with the executive organs and secret services of the Arab world. At the "ISS World MEA 2012" trade fair, beginning Monday, so-called intelligence support systems for the surveillance of telephone, email and SMS communication will be presented to the mainly Arab potential customers. A Munich-based company is the main sponsor of the fair. "In light of the 'Arab Spring' and a tangible potential for conflict in the region, the high interest in security technology remains undaunted" in the Arab world, declared the "Germany Trade and Invest", a federally financed agency. Even though the revolts of 2011 provoked new redistribution measures within the dictatorships at the Persian Gulf, they did not lead to more democracy. "The already proficient government surveillance mechanism" in place, will therefore be "greatly enhanced." The German government shares the assumption that Arab countries offer good export opportunities for the German "security" industry and sabotages EU efforts to exercise stronger controls over exports of this type of technology.

Survey the Internet

German companies will be seeking new clients at the "ISS World MEA" trade fair that opens in Dubai next Monday (February 13). The trovicor company, headquartered in Munich, will be the main sponsor of this fair, held under the motto "Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Surveillance, Support of Criminological Investigations and Acquisition of Information." Among other things, trovicor offers so-called Monitoring Centers for Surveillance of telephone, email and SMS communications and supplies such countries as Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Pakistan. "ISS World" will provide the enterprise with more than merely an opportunity for presenting its wares. Its employees will also give talks - exclusively for criminologists and intelligence officers - on "Social Network Monitoring and Analysis-how to gain new insights" and live demonstrations of their company's product's capabilities in tracking IP addresses. Another leading sponsor of the fair, Utimaco, an Aachen-based software producer, will provide information on methods for retaining data in so-called clouds, while the Leipzig-based ipoque company will expound on methods for "charting" the internet.

Good and Bad Countries

Klaus Mochalski, co-founder of ipoque, explains the utility of his company's products: "It's like a knife. You can always cut vegetables but you can also kill your neighbor."[1] With an eye on potential clients from the various dictatorships, a spokesperson for the TeleStrategies company, which is also an organizer of the "ISS World MEA" stated “that's just not my job to determine who's a bad country and who's a good country. That's not our business, we're not politicians … we're a for-profit company."[2]

Site Factor - "Security"

The German government is promoting the expansion of companies such as trovicor, Utimaco and ipoque regardless of the possibility of their products being used to suppress protest movements. The Ministry of Economics explicitly considers "security" to be a "site factor" and views "security" industry products and services to be an opportunity to develop "a specific German profile of competence."[3] In support of this industrial sector, the ministry has launched a "Security Technology and Services Export Initiative," planning to begin work in this spring. In a strategy paper entitled "Future Market - Civilian Security," the German government promises the companies its active support in acquiring clients. "Enterprises can hardly have adequate access to state decision-makers without political support."[4] The commercial officers of the embassies should also be called upon to lay the groundwork for contacts. High-ranking political presence will also be guaranteed at sales exhibitions. For example, Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum together with the German Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics, Hans-Joachim Otto inaugurated the "Intersec" Security Fair in mid-January. "Intersec" was organized by the Frankfurt Fair in Dubai with 48 German companies participating.

"Sanitizing" Controls

The German government is giving the "security" industry also legal backing. It explicitly rejects stronger constraints on the export of "monitoring centers" and internet "deep packet inspection:" To a parliamentary interpellation, the government responded, "the existing regulations have stood the test."[5] In the long run, it is even planning to facilitate the export. "The foreign trade legislation should be sanitized and made more succinct," according to the strategy paper "Future Market - Civil Security." The German Ministry of Economics has also announced a "further shortening of the authorization process in the export control" and the reinforcement of the autonomy of the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA).[6]

Trust is Better

The German government is also trying to prevent more effective export controls at the European level. In March 2011, Minister of the Economy, Rainer Brüderle, called upon the German members of the European Parliament, to reject measures introducing prior controls for "dual use goods." The FDP deputies therefore changed their position and voted against these measures. Only one guideline with the objective of broadening authorization permits for spy software and restrictions for exports via third countries has survived - also because of this intervention. FDP parliamentarian Holger Krahmer explained his change of mind in saying that one cannot "cover all eventualities in life with detailed laws."[7]

An Atmosphere of Reflectiveness

The German government seeks to harmonize plans to reform the EU's standards relating to handling so-called dual use products with German concepts. In a statement to the EU Commission, the German government explained that "efforts to prevent attempts at proliferation and destabilizing arms buildups should not unduly hamper and prohibit lawful trade, particularly business relations with the new policy-making powers."[8] The government explicitly pronounces itself against a common risk assessment or standardized criteria for exportation control procedures. The German government is also opposing enhanced information exchange and pleading to limit the European Parliament's rights of intervention in questions of export controls. The enterprises and administrations should not be burdened with supplementary bureaucratic difficulties without higher benefits from the exports.[9] The German government assures that "an atmosphere of reflection,"[10] occurs whenever the question of the export of dual use products arises.

Further information on this question can be found here: Exchange of Information, The Primacy of Repression and Security made in Germany.

[1] Document Trove Exposes Surveillance Methods; online.wsj.com 19.11.2011
[2] State Dept Official Calls Out Surveillance Gear Marketer On Human Rights; www.forbes.com 11.02.2011
[3], [4] Zukunftsmarkt Zivile Sicherheit; www.bmwi.de
[5] Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 17/8052, 02.12.2011
[6] Zukunftsmarkt Zivile Sicherheit; www.bmwi.de
[7] Die Schnüffel-Industrie unterstützt autoritäre Staaten; www.tagesspiegel.de 29.10.2011
[8] Regierung will Ausfuhr rüstungsrelevanter Güter erleichtern; www.spiegel.de 06.11.2011
[9] Rüstungsexportbericht 2011 der GKKE; www3.gkke.org
[10] Regierungspressekonferenz vom 7. November; www.bundesregierung.de


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