Berlin Approves New Expansion of Police Surveillance Powers (reclaimthenet.org)
- Reference: 0180371187
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/12/1830239/berlin-approves-new-expansion-of-police-surveillance-powers
- Source link: https://reclaimthenet.org/berlin-approves-new-expansion-of-police-surveillance-powers
> The CDU-SPD coalition, supported by AfD votes, approved the reform of the General Security and Public Order Act (ASOG), changing the limits that once protected Berliners from intrusive policing. Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) argued that the legislation modernizes police work for an era of encrypted communication, terrorism, and cybercrime. But it undermines core civil liberties and reshapes the relationship between citizens and the state.
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> One of the most controversial elements is the expansion of police powers under paragraphs 26a and 26b. These allow investigators to hack into computers and smartphones under the banner of "source telecommunications surveillance" and "online searches." Police may now install state-developed spyware, known as trojans, on personal devices to intercept messages before or after encryption.
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> If the software cannot be deployed remotely, the law authorizes officers to secretly enter a person's home to gain access. This enables police to install surveillance programs directly on hardware without the occupant's knowledge. Berlin had previously resisted such practices, but now joins other federal states that permit physical entry to install digital monitoring tools.
[1] https://reclaimthenet.org/berlin-approves-new-expansion-of-police-surveillance-powers
Wtf (Score:3)
I don't understand this new-ish over reach into people's lives by government. I haven't seen it answered in the article but I at least hope this is still needing a warrant.
Re: Wtf - DDR2 (Score:1)
Honecker would be proud.
Re: (Score:1)
Did you see the star wars prequil episode 2?
First you create the problem. (in this case immigration of a large percentage of barbaric males who are religiously justified to rape underaged girls because their holy text says it's ok)
Then you offer the solution to the problem you created! And that solution includes an unchecked blanket increase in authority with a simultaneous reduction in liberty of the citizenry.
We all know what happens next. History is chock-fucking-full of examples.
Re: (Score:2)
simple: fear. they are afraid of the people, because they have been systematically betraying them and their house of mirrors is about to shatter.
Re: (Score:3)
It's not hard to understand. Three things have been happening all at the same time in Europe, and each one of these are, all by itself, of the kind that prompts governments to go into authoritarian mode. All three put together make this exponentially more the case:
a) Risk of Russian invasion.
Russia has already been attacking NATO countries via invasion of their airspace via drone fleets and military aircraft, plus several cases of cutting oceanic data cables, and other forms of harassment, including explici
Re: (Score:1)
Why on Earth would Russia want to conquer Germany? They're bankrupt, they've deindustrialized and they have no resources. Only a very stupid person could believe that.
Also why do Europeans feel entitled to US military protection into perpetuity? You can pay your own bills now.
Re: (Score:2)
> Why on Earth would Russia want to conquer Germany?
They don't want to, but they want to cause the impression they want to. The more afraid individual NATO countries are they're going to be invaded, the more the invest in their own military strength, and refuse to share their stockpile of weapons and ammunitions with Ukraine, after all, what if they need those stockpiles? Better to hard them in fear a future hypothetical war, than to spend it on the current real war that, if won, would stop the future potential aggressor cold.
Hence, threatening NATO countrie
Re: (Score:1)
You're wrong, Russia wants normalization. Putin has ALWAYS wanted normalization. Instead it has always been the West's intention since the USSR dissolved in 1991 to undermine and break up Russia.
Here's the dirty little secret: there are more natural resources frozen under Siberia right now than the rest of the world combined. Whoever controls that when it thaws will control the planet. Once you understand that then everything else that the bankrupt West has been doing on Russia's borders the past 35 year
Re: (Score:1)
They know how close they are to seeing the torches and pitchforks. Won't be long now for Germany.
Re: Wtf (Score:2)
I see a lot of that style of comment online and genuinely find it frustrating. I sincerely doubt anyone bar a minority will do anything but whinge online or to their friends. We are too comfortable/afraid to do anything.
Warrant? (Score:2)
They did not mention the German equivelent of a warrant.
Cant he police do this at will? (as in, no one checking to see if the officer is doing it to his ex-wife?) Or do they require a Judge's permission (aka search warrant)
Anyone know the answer?
Without a warrant, this seems like an obviously bad idea. Cops should care more about guilt then they should care about protecting the innocent. But judges should be the other way around.
Re: (Score:2)
My guess is that some kind of warrant by a judge will be needed, but whether the target of the spying will be made aware that a warrant has been issued against them/their house or not, who knows.
Re: (Score:2)
> They did not mention the German equivelent of a warrant.
> Cant he police do this at will? (as in, no one checking to see if the officer is doing it to his ex-wife?) Or do they require a Judge's permission (aka search warrant)
> Anyone know the answer?
> Without a warrant, this seems like an obviously bad idea. Cops should care more about guilt then they should care about protecting the innocent. But judges should be the other way around.
It's not just Germany. Most of Western Europe has been trending this way since the end of the Cold War, and the roots of such thinking were there long before Hitler was even an itch in his daddy's pants. A lot of Americans seem surprised by this. But Europe isn't America, and European governments have always had a more paternalistic view of their role than American political philosophy allows for. Further, most Europeans are fine with that. Americans gasp when they see such things, but this is just the lat
What's old is new (Score:1)
Economy's fucked by Euro policies? No problem, just prepare for war - against your own people, against the Turks, against those pesky Jews, any excuse will do. When the Reichstag burns again, I wonder who will be blamed. And how much the surveillance state will grow again.
Re: (Score:2)
> I wonder who will be blamed
the proverbial external devil: russia and china aren't hard to guess candidates. but there are many other options: climate change, us financial collapse, ai or last but not last: their own people. bad people bad! that's what they need surveillance and control. oh and in case you'd like do dodge drafting ...
Re: (Score:1)
It shows how desperate they are by suggesting Russia would want to conquer Germany. Germans don't even want Germany. Same for the UK and France.
One question (Score:2)
Will the target of the spying be made aware that their home will be broken into by the police? If not, what if the house is alarmed (with battery and SIM backup, so cutting some wires won't help) and the alarm starts ringing when the police enters? Do they wake up to the sight of a bunch of burly police officers in their house?
It seems we've seen this before, am i reich? (Score:2)
I had some hope for Germany. Lawful warrants based on evidence is one thing but this is ridiculous. People really owe it to their officials authorizing these "sneak and peaks" to boobytrap their homes in whatever manner they see fit and share the video with the world.
Re: (Score:2)
This is merely Berlin. That city always had weird politics.
Re: (Score:2)
[1]https://i.imgur.com/mferU8l.pn... [imgur.com]
[1] https://i.imgur.com/mferU8l.png
Re: It seems we've seen this before, am i reich? (Score:1)
Sneak and peak? No the Alpine peaks are down south in Austria.
Re: (Score:1)
i mean they took economic advantage of cheap russian oil to run their heavy industry and out compete others on price. kinda been sus for 20 years.
papers please (Score:2)
Didnt this paper please request get them info a bit of hot water back in the 40s?
It was nice while it lasted... (Score:2)
> If the software cannot be deployed remotely, the law authorizes officers to secretly enter a person's home to gain access.
I'll bet Berliners who were alive when the Wall came down are very pissed off and/or scared about this. They remember what it was like to live in a surveillance state where every word and action was guarded, and I'm sure they see this as the return of that era or something very like it.
All over the world, oligarchs and would-be oligarchs are plotting and propagandizing in favour of an ersatz "liberty for safety" trade. Why in hell can't we have both? I have yet to be convinced that such measures make us mat
Germans just cannot help themselves, huh? (Score:2)
Some of these stereotypical aspects just keep repeating in German history. As if the stereotypical German mind just cannot help itself, from that one notorious political party to the Stasi to modern day invasions of privacy and encryption within Germany and on EU level in Brussels.
Ze surveillanze must happen, Ja?
Re: (Score:2)
And than you look at the US doing this crap for far, far longer. Bug-planting by law-enforcement has a long, long tradition in the US. The difference is that in Germany, so far, this was completely illegal for law enforcement. Whether this will stand in Berlin remains to be seen, but I doubt it.
We will see whether it survives (Score:2)
There will be for sure a review by the Bundesverfassungsgericht. So far, the surveillance-fascists always lost.
Cookies (Score:2)
They're gonna install malware on your device but heaven forbid your website sets the wrong cookie, then they're fining you 6% of annual revenue.
When did East Germany win?
I've heard this song before... (Score:2)
"We can't be free because we have to be safe."
Großer Bruder (Score:1)
Just picked up a cheap copy of 1984. Timing seems apt.
Well... (Score:2)
This will be great for Haiku, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD installs, there's not the remotest possibility there'll be binaries for these. Not because the software couldn't be ported, but because the sorts of people politicians hire to write software would never be able to figure out the installer.
Re:Well... (Score:4, Funny)
> This enables police to install surveillance programs directly on hardware without the occupant's knowledge.
You might wake up to the smell of bacon only to find a cop installing a key logger dongle on your DragonflyBSD machine.
Re: (Score:2)
This is illegal in Germany.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is illegal in Germany.
The last sentence of the article:
> Whether it [the new law] withstands constitutional review will determine how far Germany’s commitment to individual privacy can bend in the name of security.
Re: (Score:1)
Not any more.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Interesting)
The best government malware installs at the BIOS or UEFI level: [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
From there, it can capture keylogs and also do who knows what else, and using a relatively obscure OS won't save you since SMM accesses the hardware directly. If the attacker has physical access to the hardware (or can intercept a hardware shipment on the way to your house), they can "upgrade" your device's UEFI to one that includes government malware. The NSA did it by intercepting shipments of servers and routers btw: [2]https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com] (oh yeah, I forgot: they can infect your router too).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Mode#Problems
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-tao-intercepting-packages-2014-5
Re: Well... (Score:2)
The lack of support for those problems is likely less to do with the computer literacy level of the technical members of a nation state surveillance system, and more likely because they will not be prioritising operating systems used by essentially 0% of the general population and criminals.
Re: Well... (Score:2)
* platforms (not problems) Autocomplete