German Federal Customs Administration

The BigBrotherAward 2011 in the “Workplace” category goes to the German Federal Customs Administration.

They allow themselves to be exploited by the Russian state as they require German companies to cross-check their employees against Russian anti-terror lists. These lists are compiled by the Russian secret service FSB (formerly KGB) pursuant to a confidential Russian law. In consequence, energy companies, for example, that comply with the obligations of the Federal Customs Administration will subsequently be favoured by GASPROM for energy supplies. There are now several hundred German companies participating in the process. – Attention: April Fool's Day! – It is not GASPROM that is favouring customers, but European and American companies. To participate in trade facilitation agreements, companies are asked to agree to voluntary security checks. These involve cross-checking employee data against European and sometimes US anti-terror lists, even though this practice is prohibited by German data protection legislation.

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