This handout picture released yesterday and taken on Monday night shows the face of Megaupload founder Kim Schmitz – also known as Kim Dotcom – and the words ‘United Stasi of America’ being displayed on the facade of the US embassy in Berlin. On the left the cupola of the Reichstag building housing the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, can be seen. The projection was organised by German artist Oliver Bienkowski, who aimed to denounce the monitoring methods of the US National Security Agency (NSA) in European countries.
Reuters/Berlin
A German artist who beamed the words “United Stasi of America” onto the wall of the US embassy in Berlin says that Washington’s spy methods make the former East German secret police look like boy scouts.
A video of Oliver Bienkowski’s artwork is fast becoming a hit on the Internet in Germany, tapping into widespread outrage over US surveillance programmes revealed by fugitive ex-National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
Government eavesdropping is a highly sensitive topic in Germany, evoking memories of the Nazi Gestapo and the Stasi security police, which used a vast network of informants to crush dissidents in communist East Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought explanations from the US. With an election looming in September, her opponents have tried to turn the matter into a campaign issue, with some demanding a halt to EU-US trade talks.
“The Stasi would have dreamt of being able to do what the Americans are doing,” said Bienkowski, 31. “The Stasi look like a bunch of boy scouts compared to what the NSA is doing. It’s the real deal in terms of a secret service with modern technology at their disposal. It’s far more dangerous.”
A spokesman for the US embassy, in the heart of Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate, said the artist’s stunt was “funny, but anyone who makes this comparison knows neither the Stasi nor the US”.
Respected German news magazine Der Spiegel reported late last month, citing an internal NSA document, that the US taps 500mn phone calls, e-mails and text messages in Germany in a typical month and has classed its biggest European ally as a target similar to China.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday that talks between European Union and US experts to clarify the NSA’s activities were starting this week in parallel to the transatlantic free trade talks.
Bienkowski’s slogan, beamed onto the south wall of the US embassy with a powerful projector late on Sunday night, was briefly visible throughout the neighbourhood.
He said police stopped him after a few minutes, telling him he needed a permit for the artwork.
A video of the incident has gathered more than 42,000 hits on YouTube, and the artist made the front page of Bild, Germany’s best-selling daily with more than 12mn readers.
