The Federal Criminal Police Office is to be given additional powers. In certain cases, BKA officers should also be allowed to secretly search apartments, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to allow the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to carry out covert searches of homes in certain cases. This is stated in a draft from her department, which is still being discussed within the federal government. The measure should therefore only be permitted if “there is a concrete danger situation with regard to the preparation of a terrorist attack and there is only uncertainty as to the specific stage in which the planning of the crime is at,” the draft states in its justification.
A prerequisite for a covert search by the BKA should also be that in the specific case there is no other way to avert the impending danger without seriously jeopardizing the success of a criminal investigation. A court order should also be required. The “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND) was the first to report on the draft.
The draft law amending the Federal Criminal Police Office Act and the Federal Police Act also includes the authority to carry out biometric internet comparisons of image data and the permission to evaluate data already collected and to recognize existing links, including using AI-based instruments. The draft does not include “real-time surveillance and real-time facial recognition in public spaces,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Security circles said that police authorities needed “effective and modern instruments” in both the digital and analogue worlds.
Installing spyware
One purpose of covert searches of homes could also be to render potential means of committing a crime unusable without the knowledge of the person concerned, explains the Interior Ministry in its draft. For example, ammunition could be replaced or a basic material for the manufacture of explosives could be exchanged in order to prevent an attack.
The draft goes on to say that physical access to IT devices is the “technically safest and fastest way to implement the software necessary for accessing information technology systems.” This measure should also be permitted “exclusively for the purpose of countering the threats of international terrorism.”
Source: Stern
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