According to court documents obtained by TechCrunch, as part of an investigation into people involved in the pro-independence movement in Catalonia, Spanish police obtained information from encrypted services Wire and Proton, which helped authorities identify a pseudonymous activist. got help.
Earlier this year, the Spanish police Guardia Civil sent a legal request through the Swiss police to Wire and Proton, both of which are based in Switzerland. The Guardia Civil requested any identifying information related to the accounts on the respective platforms of both companies. Wire responded by providing the email address used to register the Wire account, which was a ProtonMail address. According to the documents, Proton responded by providing a recovery email for that ProtonMail account, which was an iCloud email address.
In the request, which listed “organized crime” and “terrorism” as the nature of the investigation, Spanish police wrote that it wanted to “discover who was the perpetrator of the events that led to the street riots in Catalonia in 2019.” who were they.”
Once Guardia Civil obtained the iCloud email address, documents show it requested the information from Apple, which in turn provided a full name, two home addresses and a linked Gmail account.
TechCrunch is not disclosing the alleged full name of the activist, given that it is unclear whether the person is actually behind these activities, nor whether they have committed any crimes.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Encrypted online services generally aim to reduce the amount of user data they can access by encrypting it with a key only the user possesses, effectively preventing companies from handing over user data subject to a court order. Can be prevented from. Instead police tap companies for their metadata, such as identifiable information about a user, including email addresses.
Wire and Proton spokespersons confirmed to TechCrunch that they received legal requests from Swiss police, and that they have complied with the requests.
“Upon a formally corrected request from the Swiss authorities, Wire provided basic account information about a user. Wire is not able to see or disclose the content of any data transmitted on its service,” Wire spokesperson Hauke Gero told TechCrunch in an email.
Proton spokesperson Edward Shone told TechCrunch that, “Proton has minimal user information, as evidenced by the fact that in this case it was data obtained from Apple that was allegedly used to identify a terrorism suspect.” “
“Proton does not require a recovery address, but in this case the terrorist suspect added one himself. We cannot encrypt this data because if the terrorist suspect wants to initiate the recovery process we need to be able to send an email to that address,” a Proton spokesperson said in an email. “This information can in principle be requested by the Swiss authorities in terrorism cases, and this determination is generally made by the Swiss Federal Justice Office. Proton provides privacy by default, not anonymity by default, as certain user actions are required to ensure proper anonymity. [operational security] Such as not linking your Apple account as an alternative recovery method, it appears that this was done by the alleged terrorist suspect.
Neither the Guardia Civil nor the Spanish court where the case is being investigated responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Police said it was “not allowed to share any details regarding possible ongoing investigations and exchange of information with our partners.”
The legal requests sent to Wire, Proton and Apple relate to a case where Spanish authorities believe a pseudonymous member of the Catalan pro-independence movement tsunami democratic At the time the group was helping to plan some kind of actions or demonstrations when King Felipe VI was planning to visit the region in 2020.
“Explain what you want to do and I’ll tell you if it’s worth it or you’ll waste time like Camp Nou,” the worker named Xuexu Rondinaire told another worker in a chat on the wire, which included Court documents.
According to Spanish authorities, Xuxu Rondinaire was referring to An unsuccessful protest involving drones It was scheduled to take place during a 2019 football game between FC Barcelona, whose stadium is called Camp Nou, and Real Madrid.
According to court documents, in those wire chats, Xuexu Rondinare “explained in detail several elements of potential security protocols for “a public figure”, apparently referring to King Felipe VI.”
Xuxu Rodinaire’s case was previously reported Spanish And Catalan Media.
Catalan newspaper El Nacional informed of On 23 April Spanish authorities believe Xuxu Rondinaire to be an officer of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police.
A spokesperson for the Mossos de Escuadra told TechCrunch he had no knowledge of the case and referred questions to the Guardia Civil and the relevant Spanish court.
TechCrunch contacted Xuxu Rondinaire via wire, his ProtonMail email address, and his iCloud email address, but did not receive a response. We also accessed a cell phone number listed in court documents, which is linked to the address of the home where Xuxu Rondinare allegedly lives, which was provided by Apple to Spanish police.
When TechCrunch contacted the cell phone number and asked if the user behind it was the person with the full name identified in court documents, the person responded “no” and said they would report the message as spam. .
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