The federal government wants to expand the use of the state trojan again. As Netzpolitik.org reports, the federal police should be able to use the surveillance tool preventively in the future – i.e. without suspicion of a crime. In addition, all secret services should have access.
The preventive use is a compromise under the Federal Police Act – the grand coalition has been working on this reform for a long time. Now the CDU/CSU and SPD want to finally pass the law shortly before the end of the legislative period.
State trojan use without concrete suspicion
< p class = "p text-width">Preventive means that the federal police may monitor people with the state trojan, although no suspicion has yet been established against them – and therefore no criminal procedural measure such as source telecommunications monitoring (source TKÜ) can be ordered. In terms of criminal tactics, this preventive telecommunications surveillance would be necessary, according to the federal government, “especially in the fight against people smuggling as well as gang-related and commercial offenses relevant to the railway police”.
The reason is just as controversial as the preventive use of the state trojan as such. After all, people who are not yet suspected of having committed a crime are monitored in this way. In February the SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken declared that this preventive surveillance was “definitely not wanted”. Esken continues to consider the use of the state Trojan to be wrong. But you respect the majority in the SPD, which has decided otherwise.
I still consider the decision to use # State Trojans to be wrong, especially in the hands of secret services. This form of surveillance is a fundamental encroachment on our freedoms and also a security risk for our economy.
& mdash; Saskia Esken (@EskenSaskia) June 9, 2021
Such a law shortly before the end of the last legislative period is nothing new. The last black and red federal government had already massively expanded the use of the state trojan a few months before the election.
State Trojans for all 19 secret services – Internet providers have to help
The federal government has agreed to change the constitutional protection law. That means: All 19 German secret services are given access to the state Trojan. The 19 secret services are the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, including the 16 state offices. This step is also controversial.
According to Netzpolitik.org, the secret services can use the sources TKÜ plus in the future. While security authorities are allowed to infiltrate the entire device during the online search, the use of the state trojan for the source TKÜ is only limited to communication. However, the Quellen-TKÜ plus makes it possible to also record communication content that has already been saved. An extension that some lawyers consider unconstitutional.
Internet providers should also be obliged to support secret services in importing the state Trojans. In practice, this should be done by running the data through a server belonging to the security authorities. Thus, a “secret service proxy” is secretly interposed in order to infect the devices of those affected. Until now, it has always been necessary for security authorities to have physical access to the respective device.
Bundestag will deal with the laws on Thursday
Tomorrow the bills are due Bundestag on the agenda. It is likely that MPs from the grand coalition will also pass it.