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author46halbe <46halbe@berlin.ccc.de>2018-07-04 08:12:30 +0000
committer46halbe <46halbe@berlin.ccc.de>2020-05-23 13:40:14 +0000
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1title: Police searches homes of „Zwiebelfreunde“ board members as well as „OpenLab“ in Augsburg
2date: 2018-07-04 08:12:30
3updated: 2018-07-04 08:12:30
4author: 46halbe
5tags: update, pressemitteilung
6
7On June 20th, board members of the „Zwiebelfreunde“ association in multiple German cities had their homes searched under the dubious pretence that they were „witnesses“ while their computers and storage media were confiscated. The Augsburger CCC offshoot „OpenLab“ also had to contend with a search of their premises.
8
9<!-- TEASER_END -->
10
11For seven years, the Zwiebelfreunde association has been promoting and
12creating privacy enhancing technologies, while also educating the public
13in their use. At
14[TorServers.net](https://torservers.net/ "Tor Servers Homepage"), the
15association operates Relays of the Tor anonymising network while helping
16operators technically and legally. In addition to this, the association
17helps other organisations raise funds. The board members of the
18association are not considered suspects but witnesses in the ongoing
19investigation.
20
21The story behind the searches and seizures is somewhat convoluted: There
22was an anonymous website on the internet, calling for protests against
23the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party convention in
24Augsburg. The unknown operators of this website used an e-mail address
25at Riseup, a well-known alternative provider. \[1\] The Zwiebelfreunde
26association has a bank account to facilitate donations to
27[riseup.net](https://riseup.net/ "Riseup Homepage").
28
29Riseup is domiciled in the US, and essentially offers a non-commercial
30alternative to Gmail. Because data-protection practices are in decline
31world-wide, many NGOs and grassroots organisations use Riseup.
32
33These facts have not yet reached the police in Bavaria. The state
34prosecutor’s office in Munich has apparently been operating on the
35mistaken assumption that everyone even tangentially connected to Riseup
36would be able to provide information on any e-mail account registered
37there, including that of the alleged illegal website. \[2\] The officers
38on the scene made clear that they themselves felt this assumption would
39not hold and said so to the witnesses. But they performed the searches
40and seizures anyway.
41
42With such contrived reasoning, almost anyone could be searched if the
43anonymous website had been operated by people with a Gmail address. As a
44consequence of this clearly nonsensical attempt at logic, those involved
45in this as witnesses and their families have had to endure abjectly
46disproportional intrusions into their homes. Homes were searched without
47anyone even attempting to question the alleged witnesses.
48
49A multitude of storage media, computers and other devices were
50confiscated, also affecting family members of the association’s board
51members - none of whom stands accused of a criminal act. Also affected
52are completely unrelated businesses and sensitive projects of
53Zwiebelfreunde, such as the Tails Linux distribution. Some of those
54involved have had their requests to return the hardware denied.
55
56„This is a textbook example of how easy the fundamental rights of
57completely innocent citizens and their families can be violated as a
58result of artificially constructed evidence chains, no matter how
59ridiculous. To be drawn into this as a witness on the basis of such
60patently unsustainable reasoning is questionable to say the least. The
61recent introduction of draconian Bavarian laws governing police
62authority has clearly led to a culture where those responsible no longer
63feel bound by any sense of proportionality of their actions“, says Frank
64Rieger, speaker for the Chaos Computer Clubs (CCC).
65
66Just to recap: The mere presence of an e-mail address at a large free
67provider on a website has caused law enforcement authorities to deduce
68that a German association that helps raise funds for this provider must
69be connected to this website somehow. Although Zwiebelfreunde clearly
70has nothing to do with the operation of this provider, they were
71suspected anyway. That these searches and seizures were ordered by the
72Bavarian police shows either forensic incompetence at a very advanced
73stage, malicious intent or both.
74
75If you want to support Zwiebelfreunde – and still dare to send money to
76their account – please check here:
77[https://www.zwiebelfreunde.de/](https://www.zwiebelfreunde.net/ "Homepage des Vereins Zwiebelfreunde").
78
79### Search of the OpenLab in Augsburg
80
81While searching the premises of the board members in Augsburg, Jena,
82Dresden, and Berlin, the police – on their own accord –decided to extend
83the search to premises also used by members of the CCC: the OpenLab in
84Augsburg. Here the officers were confronted with hackers in their
85natural habitat: substances to clean and etch circuit boards as well as
86hair bleach. After interpreting the contents of a whiteboard as a bomb
87making manual, the officers then went on to accuse random people present
88at the hackerspace of plotting a bombing attack. Three people were
89arrested on the spot and the hackerspace was subsequently searched
90without a court order and without any witnesses.
91
92The police seized objects from OpenLab and used force to open locked
93cabinets holding member data and bank records. It has to be assumed that
94this information was copied and that the rights of members and
95supporters of both association were violated.
96
97Just like with the initial suspicion with regard to the board members of
98Zwiebelfreunde, the subsequent suspicions with regard to explosives are
99incompetent, malicious or both. The suspicion of „preparation of a
100explosive attack“ is a grave and direct threat to the operation of a
101hackerspace - family-friendly OpenLab is open to visitors almost every
102day. If the mere possession of basic chemical knowledge is a cause for
103suspicion then pretty soon teenagers will have to hide their chemistry
104books from nosy cops.
105
106### Links:
107
108- \[1\] [https://riseup.net](https://riseup.net/)
109- \[2\] [AfD protest
110 website](https://augsburgfuerkrawalltouristen.noblogs.org/impressum/)
111- \[3\]
112 [https://www.zwiebelfreunde.de](https://www.zwiebelfreunde.de/)