Berlin legalizes home invasion to install Trojans

Berlin's House of Representatives voted on Thursday to comprehensively amend the General Security and Public Order Act (ASOG). The reform grants the police powers that greatly infringe on fundamental rights and violate the capital's previous red lines of security policy.

While Interior Senator Iris Spranger defends the bill as a necessary update for the digital age and the fight against terrorism, critics consider it a disproportionate attack on privacy.

See more articles from iGuRu.gr when you search for news on Google.

iGuRu.gr preferred source

The bone of contention is the combination of digital surveillance and physical intrusion:

In order to monitor encrypted communications, the authorities, according to the Senate draft and the Änderungen der Abgeordneten , will not only be allowed to hack into IT systems, but also to secretly enter the apartments of suspects. The “innovation” is hidden in paragraphs 26a and 26b. These regulate the so-called source telecommunications monitoring (Quellen-TKÜ) and secret Internet searches. To intercept communications on devices such as smartphones or laptops before or after decryption, the authorities will be able to use malicious software such as state Trojans.

However, the new law goes one step further: If remote installation of spyware is not technically feasible, paragraph 26 explicitly allows authorities to “secretly enter and search premises” in order to gain access to computer systems.

In effect, Berlin is thus legalizing state invasion of private apartments to install Trojans, for example via a USB stick.

giorgos

George is still wondering what he is doing here….