Berlin: Police can secretly enter homes for state trojan installation
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/54414754
In order to monitor encrypted communication, investigators will in future, according to the Senate draft and the Änderungen der Abgeordneten, not only be allowed to hack IT systems but also to secretly enter suspects' apartments.
If remote installation of the spyware is technically not possible, paragraph 26 explicitly allows investigators to "secretly enter and search premises" in order to gain access to IT systems. In fact, Berlin is thus legalizing – as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania did before – state intrusion into private apartments in order to physically install Trojans, for example via USB stick.
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Berlin-Police-can-secretly-enter-homes-for-state-trojan-installation-11103284.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.zip227
Comments25
Something something european democracy something something bulwark against Russian Chinese authoritarianism, something something east german stasi
Such hollow, opportunistic rehtoric from people and governments who are doing the exact same things they accuse others of. Germany in particular, with it's to-the-hilt support of Israel's genocide, does not seem to have learned it's lesson.
National leaders only pretend to be opposed to each other.
In reality, they all know that their citizens are slaves to make them richer.
any site where I can download this cool spyware and run it so they don't enter my home? Does it run on Arch Linux?
Wonder if they'd install it on all devices or only my desktop since I have all others with me at all times...
In the US it's always been possible to do this with a proper warrant, though avoiding detection if the person expects something could be difficult. Security cameras and so on.
I'm not too bothered by this given how much work it is. They will only do it if there's a criminal case or some other significant interest to work from. It's not a tool of warrantless mass surveillance even though it's been done abusively/illegally from time to time.
Think about what we did in Ireland in the 80s. It's no different, and it only worked marginally. Although that cpuld be because opsec was pretty good among the provisional IRA active cells.
Idk how stuff was done in Ireland but there weren't so many computers then. It's probably easier to install audio bugs than conduct an "evil maid attack" (infosec term for surreptitiously messing with someone's computer, traditionally in the person's hotel room) if they have taken any precautions.
Feeling like this is a gliding scale though. What's next, a surveillance state?
I think those are two different things. They might do 1000s of secret break-ins per year, maybe 10,000's. But probably not millions. OTOH, mass surveillance is used against just about everyone, i.e. billions. So the scale is different.
Here in the US, I suspect secret break-ins are rare, because they are risky (armed occupants etc). So they do SWAT raids instead. Abusive and too often fatal, but not that secret.
Yes, the EU itself is working hard on the surveillance state separately.
Chat control being one of them
In theory a judge has to look through each surveillance act of the police in germoney, in 12 years not a single one got denied. Because its paperwork to defend civil rights but just nodding to whatever the officers say costs nothing
Yeah, it doesn't scale. Most of the surveillance (legal intercept, SINA hardware on ISP) and injection of government malware will be through the hostile network. People who run a tight ship will have a small attack surface.
You guys dont mind if the pigs install malware on your computer do you?
If they can install it on TempleOS then more power to them.
If I ever move to Germany I'll remember to booby trap my doors and windows.
Go full Home Alone.
The Stasi is back
This is kinda silly. Most implants are installed by the NSA at the airport when you buy the device.
It's much easier for them to install implants on devices at the time you order it than to break into your house.
Capitalism advanced towards end stage.
And I'm sure if citizens do anything to remove malware on their devices they'll be criminally charged too 🤡
Well, that sounds very undue-processy of them. Obviously what a same, civilized society would allow.
So, the German police are the Stasi?
That's not a police job. Is german secret service entirely useless or what?
Hey wasn't Germany a democracy and didn't have Statsi?
I don't have a problem with the police entering private homes and installing spyware when authorized by a court order supported by strong evidence. That's narrowly focused on investigating crime.
What I'm very concerned about is attempts to perform surveillance without individualized suspicion or independent oversight.
I think installing spyware on someone's device is two or three steps more drastic a measure than a simple search, which is about the extent of what a court order can authorize police to do right now. It feels conceptually close to tampering with evidence present at a (possible) crime scene. To add to this, spyware is not the same thing as installing a physical listening device in someone's home. It requires far-reaching permissions on a system, and can influence lots of other software on the same system. You'd have to have an extreme level of confidence that this won't lead to accidental or intentional planting of incriminating material. And, in my opinion that sort of load-bearing trust is not really something law enforcement has earned in the general case.