Federal Constitutional Court
Karlsruhe restricts Trojan use in the event of law enforcement
Since 2017, investigators have also been able to infiltrate cell phones and computers from suspects with spy software and thus collect data. The Federal Constitutional Court now sets limits.
The powers of criminal investigators under secret use of so -called state trojans are sometimes unconstitutional. The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe decided. The first Senate declared the so-called source telecommunications monitoring (short: source-tkü) for facts with a maximum imprisonment of up to three years void. So it is also invalid.
In addition, the authority of the investigators for the secret online search of computers and smartphones from suspects was not compatible with the Basic Law, the court decided. However, this provision continues to a new regulation. (Az. 1 BvR 180/23)
Serious intervention in fundamental rights
State Trojan is referred to, which is installed on his computer or smartphone without knowing the suspect. Since a change to the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2017, the police have been able to read through encrypted messages about messenger services such as WhatsApp or Telegram (source TKÜ) or even all data on a device (online search).
The Source TKÜ is a very serious intervention, among other things, in fundamental rights, the court in Karlsruhe decided. “Based on the very high intervention weight, the source telecommunications monitoring must be limited to the persecution of particularly serious crimes for reasons of proportionality in the narrower sense.”
Don’t you want to miss anything from the star?
Personally, competent and entertaining: Editor -in -chief Gregor Peter Schmitz sends you the most important content from the star-Credaction and arranges what Germany talks about.
The Federal Constitutional Court explained that the weight of the persecuted crimes depends on the weight of the persecuted crimes. Those, for which a maximum imprisonment of up to three years or a fine are planned, were part of the simple crime area. This excludes the classification as a particularly serious crime from the outset.
The plaintiffs see government obligation violated
Several constitutional complaints had been submitted against the powers in Karlsruhe – including the digital courage association initiated by the association, which has now been decided. “The state trojans are installed via security gaps that must be present in every smartphone, computer, tablet and in every game console,” explains the club on its website. In addition to the police, these back doors could also use criminals to access devices. The state thus violates its obligation to protect.
As can be seen from a statistics of the Federal Office of Justice published on Tuesday, there were a total of 104 judicial orders for the source TKÜ in 2023. 62 online searches were actually carried out. According to the information, 26 times were arranged and carried out six times. Most of the time it was about the accusation of forming a criminal association.
dpa
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
