United "Stasi" of America/Kim Dotcom Painted onto Embassy
Police Investigate Dotcom’s Face Projected Onto U.S. Embassy
Last weekend the words “United Stasi of America” were projected onto the side of the US embassy in Berlin alongside the face of Kim Dotcom. Police are now investigating whether a crime has been committed.
The spying activities of the U.S. Government have received massive coverage in recent weeks, largely thanks to the revelations of Edward Snowden.
As a result the NSA has been compared on a number of occasions to the Stasi, the secret police in the former East Germany. The NSA, however, appears to be carrying out spying on a much grander scale.
In an attempt to draw even more attention to the scandal, last Sunday German artist Oliver Bienkowski beamed an image of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom onto the walls of the U.S. embassy in Berlin accompanied by the words “United Stasi of America.”
“The Stasi would have dreamt of being able to do what the Americans are doing,” Bienkowski told Reuters.
“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.”
Dotcom was delighted with the result.
“I defaced the U.S. embassy in Berlin with a truth-projection last night. 0wned!” he said on Twitter.
Now, however, police are reportedly investigating whether Bienkowski can be charged with the crime of “slander against the organizations and representatives of a foreign state.”
Bienkowski’s lawyer Fabian Eickstädt said that since the projection was made onto what is technically U.S. soil, its questionable whether there was any offense committed under German law.
According to The Local, the U.S. Embassy says it has no interest in a prosecution.
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