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Comment by ekianjo | Hacker News Reader

> A spokesman for the federal agency told Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily that Cayla amounted to a "concealed transmitting device", illegal under an article in German telecoms law (in German).

Funny, but when the State does Surveillance, all of a sudden it's OK.

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No it is not ok and illegal until a judge gave an order to wiretap a person. Even then, it required an extension of the laws to allow wire tapping of organized criminals within private rooms, which previously was completely forbidden.

> No it is not ok and illegal until a judge gave an order to wiretap a person.

So it's illegal unless the state says so. Who do you think the judge's boss is?

It is not the state, strictly speaking. In Germany, there are 3 pillars of the law. There is the police, which may not wiretap except under very limited conditions - it was a huge political discussion, when those exceptions were added to the German law. Before that, wiretapping in private rooms was completely banned. There is the state, which can creates laws, by which police has to act and judges judge. These laws can of course changed the legality of certain measures, but they are bounded by the constitution, and laws have been voided by the federal court due to being in violation of the constitution. Judges are independant in their role from state and police. While their salary is paid by the state, there is a good reason, that judge positions in Germany are for-life. Unless the judge performs an actual crime, he cannot be fired. This is to ensure maximal independence.

Nobody? Regarding verdicts there is literally no boss who can say anything about how they do their job (sometimes much to the grief of judges in a higher court).

Or social media companies.

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