Cell interrogation
The radio cell query (FZA) is an open investigative measure subject to the reservation of a judge for the purpose of prosecuting criminal offenses of considerable importance. The authorities request telecommunication connection data that are generated in a specific, spatially designated radio cell over a specific period of time. The aim of the measure is to clarify the identity of suspects or to obtain further clues to clarify the facts.
Legal basis
The measure has been regulated by law since December 2015 in Section 100g (3) StPO . Prerequisites for collecting the necessary traffic data are the requirements of the so-called subsidiarity clause , according to which, among other things, "the investigation of the facts or the determination of the whereabouts of the accused would be otherwise hopeless or significantly more difficult and the measure must be proportionate to the importance of the matter ". In the context of data retention, data can be collected retrospectively for up to ten weeks in the event of particularly serious criminal offenses under the conditions of Section 113b TKG.
Subsequent notification
According to Section 101a (6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, those affected must be notified of the measure. With the consent of the competent court, this can be waived in individual cases if the purpose of the measure would be jeopardized. In addition, according to Section 101, Paragraph 4, Clause 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure , investigative authorities can refrain from notification if it can be assumed that the persons concerned are not interested in notification. In practice, this is almost always assumed, so that only the accused of the respective criminal proceedings are notified, but not sometimes many thousands of people who got into a radio cell query without being investigated.
In November 2018, the state of Berlin presented the radio cell query transparency system (FTS) in order to meet the legal obligation to notify in the future. Interested parties can store their mobile phone number and will be informed after the investigation has been completed, provided that their mobile phone number was recorded in a radio cell query.
Controversial radio cell queries
At the counter rally to the Nazi rally to commemorate February 13, 1945 in Dresden, over a million traffic data records and over 40,000 inventory data records from meeting participants and bystanders were saved and evaluated by means of several radio cell queries . As a result, police chief Dieter Hanitsch lost his office and there was a controversy between the Saxon data protection officer Andreas Schurig and the Saxon judiciary.
On October 24, 2009, an attempted car arson took place on Rigaer Strasse in Berlin . During the investigation, all traffic data from 13 surrounding cell phone cells was queried as part of a radio cell query, which, after it became known in 2012, caused domestic political controversy.
In 2015, the Intelligence Initiative named the topic of "modern mobile phone searches" one of the neglected topics of the German mass media.
At the G20 summit in Hamburg , according to a response from the Hamburg Senate, 38 applications for the collection of cell data were submitted and 37 silent SMS messages were sent in 31 proceedings. Also IMSI catcher to have been in use. Politicians from the parties Die Linke and the Pirate Party in particular criticized the lack of transparency, as those affected were not notified of the measures.
literature
- Toralf Nöding: The amendment of the criminal procedure regulations for telephone surveillance In: StraFo 2007, S. 456–463.
- Armin Nack : Karlsruhe Commentary on the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Courts Constitution Act (edited by Rolf Hannich), CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-576621 ; Section 100g Rn. 5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Radio cell query transparency system of the State of Berlin (FTS)
- ^ "Media information from the Saxon data protection officer of September 9, 2011" . In: Saxon Data Protection Officer , September 9, 2011. Accessed September 30, 2019.
- ↑ Joint report by the Saxon State Ministry of Justice and for Europe and the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior on the collection and use of the provisions of Section 100g of the Code of Criminal Procedure i. V. m. 96 Telecommunications Act available data in connection with the preliminary investigation into the prosecution of the crimes committed on February 19, 2011 in Dresden (PDF; 26 kB), June 24, 2011. On "Alternative Dresden-News", accessed on November 27, 2017.
- ^ Die Zeit: Dresden's police chief recalled due to a data affair , June 27, 2011
- ↑ MDR: Judges attack data protectionists Schurig ( memento of October 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), September 13, 2011
- ↑ Mass evaluation of cell phone data outraged interior experts Spiegel-Online from January 20, 2012
- ↑ 2015: Top 10 - Modern search by mobile phone. initiative intelligence , accessed on October 23, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Printed matter 21/9862. Hamburg Citizenship, July 25, 2017, accessed on June 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Printed matter 21/10111. Hamburg Citizenship, August 22, 2017, accessed on June 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Anna Biselli: G20 also means: Summit of Surveillance. In: Netzpolitik. July 28, 2017, accessed June 1, 2020 .
- ^ Protesters spied on. In: taz.de. The daily newspaper, July 31, 2017, accessed on June 1, 2020 .
- ^ "No Spy - Privacy is not a crime". In: Pirate Party Hamburg. June 28, 2017, accessed June 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Patrick Breyer: Notification campaign for cell phone tracking: objections of the public prosecutor's offices refuted. February 22, 2018, accessed June 1, 2020 .
