Note that this has been one of the top news stories for a couple of days in a row now. And not for a lack of other pressing issues... The whole thing is extremely embarrassing for the hard liners, who seem to have a hard time repositioning themselves in the face of ever new discoveries and new experts chiming in (e.g. http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002250.html).

It's a neat combination of illegal behavior and incompetence. In one case, the software continuously took screenshots of victim's desktops, which was ruled illegal in Germany. The encryption used in the software is terrible. The company which apparently developed the software -- though so far, the government won't confirm it, citing fears of internet revenge against the company (I'm not kidding) -- was convicted of bribery a few years ago.

A lot is still unknown, ie. how many other versions of the government trojan there were and are, a more exhaustive list of the ways it has been used, etc. Three cases in Bavaria are known so far: in two of them, the software was installed in fraudulent border/customs checks, in one case the police broke into someone's home to install it. None of these cases involved terrorism or child abuse. Hopefully, the next couple of days will see further reveals or leaks.