German NSA Investigative Committee Uses Typewriters To Avoid Spies

The German investigative committee tasked with looking into the extent of the National Security Agency's meddling in German affairs has decided to go retro in a bid for better security. The committee has acquired a mechanical typewriter, and plans to get more as a way to reduce leaks.

The information was provided by the committee's chairman Patrick Sensburg, who announced the acquisition of a typewriter on German television yesterday morning. The use of typewriters will effectively stomp on modern spying efforts, and will make it doubly difficult for unauthorized parties to get their hands on communications.

Germany isn't the first nation to do this, with Russian having previously spent nearly $15,000 to provide a government agency with typewriters for Kremlin communications. The difference, in this case, is that Russia elected to use electric typewriters, while Germany has side-stepped electronics altogether, going mechanical.

Germany recently announced the arrest of one known as Markus R., a worker for Germany's spy agency BND who allegedly turned tail and approached the CIA about working with them (something that netted him a hefty sum of money, by all accounts). Markus reportedly provided the CIA will 218 documents.

SOURCE: Ars Technica