Outrageous investigation

That we live in an age of universal surveillance is one of the bitter insights that have been part of our daily lives as Internet users ever since Edward Snowden's revelations of surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency.

Once we found out that Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone was also tapped by the NSA, it's been clear that no one is exempt from surveillance.

What remains unclear in the context of this scandal is how much the German government knew about the NSA's moves and how much - if any - of the monitoring Berlin condoned or even supported. Suspecting that a government would help a foreign power monitor its people is outrageous - and it's a suspicion that needs to be clarified using all possible means.

Federal prosecutor Harald Range started a half-hearted inquiry into the matter, but the case was quickly closed.

Now, the he has started an investigation aimed at two journalists who work for the blog Netzpolitik.org on suspicion of treason. The blog had reported on plans by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, to increase state surveillance of online communications. In the course of their work, the pair of journalists published confidential BfV documents. The BfV launched the criminal complaint.

A threat to the constitutional state

To call it an all-out scandal is putting it mildly. If the state takes no action against those who spy on upstanding citizens, but drags into court the very people who bring these acts to the public's attention into court, then it is trampling on the notion of a democratic, constitutional state - not protecting it.

It appears that even in 2015, one must explicitly point out that this constitutional state includes the inviolability of privacy and the freedom of the press. When the BfV and the federal prosecutor take such heavy-handed action against reporters, it's nothing less than a massive attack on press freedom.

"Spiegel scandal 2.0"

That the charges include suspicion of treason leaves a particularly bad taste in the mouth. Germany saw its last case of treason charges 50 years ago, and it also targeted critical journalism. That case led to what became known as the "Spiegel scandal." In the autumn of 1962, Germany's "Der Spiegel" news magazine published a critical article of the government's defense policies. Investigations into alleged treason were launched against several reporters and some were arrested. The magazine's editor in chief, Rudolf Augstein, spent 103 days in jail.

Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's government defended the move, but protests erupted across Germany. In the end, the affair cost two senior officials their jobs, and Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss was forced to step down. It was a test for German democracy and ended up boosting the importance of freedom of the press.

Let's hope that the "Spiegel scandal 2.0" has a similar outcome.

What do you think about charging journalists for treason for publishing classified documents? Share your views in the comments below.