German criticisms of US data protection revealed

The US Ambassador to Germany scoffed at German criticisms of US data protection inadequacies, according to secret diplomatic despatches published to the internet on the weekend.

Germany has long had staunch protections for privacy and in April its data protection commissioner exposed Google's international practice of capturing private data sent over unsecured WiFi networks, embarassing the advertising giant.

The FDP's fixation on data privacy

"The FDP's fixation on data privacy and protection issues looks to have come at the expense of the party forming responsible views on security policy," Murphy wrote. "The FDP has been out of power for over 10 years and lack experience tackling security issues in the internet age.

"The FDP appears not to fully grasp the transnational character of terrorism today and terrorists' increasing use of the Internet and related technology to recruit, train and organise."