20260610 Gegen digitale Aufrüstung!

Security Without Surveillance

Next Saturday, June 13, a demonstration organized by the alliance “Security Without Surveillance” will begin in Berlin Friedrichshain – Marchlewskistr. / Warschauer Str. at the RAW grounds, a demonstration by the alliance “Security Without Surveillance” against the digital armament of the police — not just in Berlin. The alliance is supported by the following groups: Republican Lawyers’ Association (RAV), AG Unsicherheit, Alliance Against Police Violence Germany, Datenpunks e.V., Digitale Gesellschaft e.V. (D), Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Social Responsibility (FIfF e.V.), Kleindatenverein, Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy e.V., KOP Berlin, Rote Hilfe e.V., Görli 24/7, Anoxinon e.V., freiheitsfoo, Gen-ethisches Netzwerk, AZADI, and others ...

Aktion Freiheit statt Angst will also be there on Saturday. Rote Hilfe has published a press release regarding the demonstration, which we would like to highlight here. Once again, the state is ignoring central tenets of our Basic Law with its massive Security Package 2.0.

Biometric matching against all photos, audio recordings, and other data from the internet,

automated data analysis,

identity verification or determining the whereabouts of suspects or witnesses based on their movement patterns,

Training IT products for the police using personal data,

digital powers in police work are intended to enhance “international counterterrorism,”

a stricter code of criminal procedure is intended to allow digital investigation results to be introduced in court proceedings,

once again, a third package is set to introduce new data retention measures, namely the mass, indiscriminate storage of IP addresses and ports of all internet users, which the BVerfG had condemmend for several times.

Although the Federal Constitutional Court had already criticized the use of Palantir and its unregulated application as early as 2023, the government intends to use this product — or a similarly problematic competitor — for police work in the future. The press release concludes with the following statement:

“These legislative proposals are every data protection advocate’s nightmare, as they destroy all the achievements of the Basic Law as well as human and fundamental rights: The federal government is thus racing full speed toward a surveillance state,” explained Hartmut Brückner of the Federal Executive Board of Rote Hilfe e. V. “This total control is intended to intimidate everyone and force them into compliant behavior. It is meant to sideline any opposition and suppress inconvenient left-wing movements. We call on all progressive and democratic forces to take action against this surveillance package and prevent the ‘Lex Big Brother’ planned by Merz!”