In addition, there is a "special" arrangement between 5 western allies called the "five eyes"[1]. Between the five partners, they cover internet backbone infra for much of the world.
The article is about Germany.
Indeed - and many German citizens who are interested in such topics find this concerning exactly because of Five Eyes.
My comment that Germany is not part of Five Eyes
> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19399560
refers to its grandparent
> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19398858
which I requote here:
"Western governments have historically been allied with and have had intelligence sharing and cooperation arrangements with the U.S.
There is a general alignment of Western intelligence agencies as a cooperative group against the antagonism of China (and Russia, NK, etc)
It isn't just "everybody spies" - it's "we are actively engaged in an adversarial relationship together against this other group"".