The Spy Story

There's a page four type court case brewing in the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhr (highest court of Germany). 

The topic?  A private group is suing the BND (the German version of the CIA/NSA).  What the group is suggesting is that privacy laws made in Germany.....go past the German border, and the BND can't go and spy on anyone.  In this discussion....they are mainly talking about electronic methods (telephone and internet).

If they win the case?  It's hard to see why the BND would then exist.  They might keep some folks around to read newspapers, or have talks with journalists in other countries.....but the bulk of their manpower could be cut easily.

The odds of the private group winning?  Unknown.  On some legal points, their suggestion is that German privacy law applies across all of the EU, and way past Europe itself.

The fact that forty-odd countries will continue to 'spy' upon Germany?  That hasn't been discussed in journalist pieces on the story.  It's a bit comical, but this is the path that the group has chosen for the case.

What may happen?  The court has the power to say that current law doesn't fit or apply, and 'order' the Bundestag to make a new law....which will say precisely what the court suggests.  My guess is that draft will say that Germany reserves the right to spy on anyone.....who spies on them.