The German cabinet has passed a comprehensive legislative package that grants the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) significantly expanded powers. The agencies are to gain more leeway in collecting and storing data and be able to act more specifically against acts of sabotage and hacker attacks.
Nina Warken defended the reform in an interview with the Rheinische Post: “We will not stand idly by as foreign interference, sabotage, and threats to the pillars of our constitution and our free society continue to grow.” The services could only act effectively against hybrid attacks if they had more freedom and modern measures at their disposal.
Criticism comes, among others, from FDP leader Wolfgang Kubicki. He accused Alexander Dobrindt of breaking a taboo. “I do not want a secret police in Germany,” Kubicki told the Augsburger Allgemeine. He demanded full judicial control over interventions in fundamental rights and warned: “You do not defend freedom by curtailing it.”
Source: www.dw.com
