A longer article by Lilith Wittmann (the "German woman") herself can be found here [0] or you could listen to the detailed and entertaining interview on the podcast Logbuch:Netzpolitik [1], unfortunately both only in German language.<p>[0] <a href="https://lilithwittmann.medium.com/bundesservice-telekommunikation-wie-ich-versehentlich-eine-tarnbeh%C3%B6rde-in-der-bundesverwaltung-a8823f308536" rel="nofollow">https://lilithwittmann.medium.com/bundesservice-telekommunik...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/lnp419-und-aehnlich-verschworene-gemeinschaften" rel="nofollow">https://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/lnp419-und-aehnlich-verschwor...</a>
I'm convinced this is a non-story. She didn't prove the existence of the alleged secret government organisation "Bundesservice Telekommunikation", but rather that the system to protect government organisations and their staff from possibly hazardous letters works as intended.<p>She claims that the fact that the letter she addressed to the allegedly not existing secret org was redirected to a government organisation in another city proves that the secret one exists.<p>But she conveniently doesn't mention that the org where the air tag letter ended up is specifically the authority which watches and investigates fringe groups like neo-nazis, terrorist sleeper cells, conspiracy cults, etc.<p>The idea that the redirection of the letter from Berlin (to Cologne) is of significance is quite ignorant as well. Because Germany isn't as centralised as for instance France or England, where almost all government organisations are in the capital. In Germany, they're all over the country.<p>Using Occam's razor, what happened here is clearly:<p>1. She sends an envelope containing an electronic device with a battery addressed to the "secret organisation" which only is rumoured to exist in fringe and conspiracy communities, which allegedly hides behind another, officially acknowledged organisation with a publicly known address. This is akin to someone sending a strange, possibly dangerous envelope to "Bill Gates 5G Vaccine Mind Control HQ, Whitehouse, Washington D.C."<p>2. She tracks the airtag and finds out that it has ended up not in Berlin at the alleged "public front" of the secret organisation in Berlin, but rather in Cologne at the "Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz", the org watching fringe groups.<p>3. The envelope was clearly scanned and flagged as a possible threat, e.g. a mail bomb / anthrax letter. Or simply a device containing a battery sent without the appropriate warning labels on the outside. The fact that she addressed to an alleged "secret organisation" only known in conspiracy circles probably triggered the redirection to the German authority which deals with such threats.<p>4. The envelope was processed in Cologne by specifically trained staff at special facilities at the organisation officially tasked with handling such things.<p>Hence my believe that this is a non-story - and it hasn't been picked up by any serious major news outlets in Germany, not even those famous for their investigative journalism. Of course this will be taken as "proof" by the conspiracy theorists as well.
Why does the article call her "German woman" as if that was her job, or as if she accidentally found this? She's a professional security researcher.
When I read that it had something to do with the constitution protection office I knew it had to be a front for the Interior ministery. It just made sense. Really makes you wonder how many more fronts are there waitingto be discovered