Redazione RHC : 8 August 2025 08:13
Germany’s Supreme Court rules that police can only use spyware to investigate serious crimes.
It ruled that law enforcement cannot use spyware to monitor personal devices in cases carrying a maximum sentence of less than three years.
The court responded to a lawsuit filed by the German digital freedoms organization Digitalcourage. The plaintiffs argued that a 2017 rule change, allowing law enforcement to use spyware to intercept encrypted chats and messaging platforms, could unfairly expose communications belonging to people who are not suspected of crimes.
The 2017 amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure The German criminal code was not sufficiently precise regarding the cases in which the use of spyware is permitted, the court ruled, stating that spyware is appropriate only in the investigation of serious cases. Such surveillance causes a “serious interference” with fundamental rights, the court stated in a press release.
The use of spyware by law enforcement agencies “enables the interception and analysis of all raw data exchanged and therefore has exceptional scope, especially considering the reality of modern information technology and its importance for communication relationships,” the press release states.
The court also ruled that the secret search of data stored on suspects’ computers and smartphones is partly incompatible with the Basic Law, the German Constitution. German in fact. “State-sponsored Trojans are installed by exploiting security vulnerabilities that must be present in every smartphone, computer, tablet, and game console,” the association writes on its website.
By using these backdoors, which could also be used by criminals to access devices, the state is violating its duty to protect, the association stated.
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