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As part of an investigating into people involve in the pro - independence movement in Catalonia , the Spanish police obtained information from the encrypt services Wire and Proton , which helped the federal agency identify a pseudonymous militant , according to court documents obtained by TechCrunch .
in the beginning this twelvemonth , the Spanish police Guardia Civil sent effectual requests through Swiss police force to Wire and Proton , which are both ground in Switzerland . The Guardia Civil requested any identifying data related to accounts on the two companies ’ respective platforms . Wire responded providing the email reference used to register the Wire score , which was a Protonmail address . Proton responded providing the recuperation email for that Protonmail account , which was an iCloud e-mail reference , agree to the documents .
In the petition , which listed “ form offence ” and “ act of terrorism ” as the nature of the probe , Spanish law write that it need to “ observe out who were the perpetrators of the fact taking position in the street riots in Catalonia in 2019 . ”
Once the Guardia Civil obtained the iCloud email destination , the papers show that it requested selective information from Apple , which in crook provide a full name , two home addresses and a linked Gmail history .
TechCrunch is not unwrap the alleged full name of the activist , given that it is unclear if that person is really behind these activity , nor that they have committed any crimes .
Apple did not respond to a request for comment .
Encrypted online services typically aim to repress the amount of exploiter data they can get at by cipher it with keys that only the user has , effectively foreclose the companies from handing over substance abuser information open to a court order . law or else pink companies for their metadata , such as identifiable information about the user , including email addresses .
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Spokespeople from Wire and Proton confirmed to TechCrunch that they received legal requests from the Swiss police , and that they complied with the requests .
“ Upon a officially correct postulation by the Swiss authorities , Wire allow basic story info about a user . Wire is not able to see or disclose the content of any data transmit over its service , ” Wire spokesperson Hauke Gierow told TechCrunch in an email .
Proton spokesperson Edward Shone told TechCrunch that , “ Proton has minimal drug user information , as illustrate by the fact that in this font it was data obtained from Apple that was allegedly used to identify the terrorism defendant . ”
“ Proton does not ask a recovery name and address , but in this casing the scourge defendant add one on their own . We can not cipher this data as we require to be able to send an email to that speech if the terror suspect wish to initiate the recuperation process , ” said Proton ’s interpreter in the electronic mail . “ This selective information can in theory be requested by Swiss assurance in pillowcase of terrorism , and this determination is generally made by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice . Proton provides privacy by nonpayment and not anonymity by default because anonymity requires certain exploiter actions to ensure proper [ in operation security ] such as not adding your Apple account as an optional recovery method acting , which it appear was done by the alleged terror suspect . ”
Neither the Guardia Civil , nor the Spanish motor hotel where the case is being investigate , responded to TechCrunch ’s requests for comment . A representative for the Swiss Federal Police say that it is “ not allowed to partake in any details about possible on-going investigations and information substitution with our partners . ”
The legal request send to Wire , Proton and Apple are related to a case where Spanish dominance believe that a pseudonymous member of the Catalan pro - independence movementTsunami Democraticwas help the radical plan some sort of action or demonstrations at the time when King Felipe VI was planning to visit the region in 2020 .
“ explicate what you require to do and I will tell you whether it ’s worth it or you will emaciate time like at the Camp Nou , ” the militant , who goes by Xuxu Rondinaire , told another activist in a chat on Wire , which is include in the court documents .
allot to the Spanish authorities , Xuxu Rondinaire was referring toa botched protestation necessitate dronesthat was supposed to go on during the 2019 association football game between F.C. Barcelona , whose stadium is called Camp Nou , and Real Madrid .
concord to the court documents , in those Wire Old World chat , Xuxu Rondinaire “ explained in detail ” several chemical element of the potential security protocols of “ a public figure , ” understandably referring to King Felipe VI .
The character of Xuxu Rodinaire was antecedently reported bySpanishandCatalanmedia .
Catalan paper El Nacionalreportedon April 23 that the Spanish authorities believe Xuxu Rondinaire is an officer of the Catalan law Mossos d’Esquadra .
A spokesperson for Mossos d’Esquadra tell TechCrunch that it has no information about the suit and refer questions to the Guardia Civil and the relevant Spanish court .
TechCrunch reached out to Xuxu Rondinaire via Wire , via their Protonmail email address and their iCloud email name and address , but receive no response . We also make out to a jail cell phone identification number listed in the court documents as being connect to the home destination where Xuxu Rondinaire allegedly lives , which was provided by Apple to the Spanish law .
When TechCrunch reached out to the prison cell phone number and involve whether the user behind it was the person with the full name identify in the court document , the person responded “ no , ” and added they would report the message as spam .
