Kilian Vieth

Caught in the Act? An analysis of Germany’s new SIGINT reform

In May 2020, the German Constitutional Court obliged the Bundestag to reform the current legal framework for foreign intelligence collection. It held that future legislation must extend key fundamental rights protections under the Basic Law to non-nationals. It also called an end to Germany’s evasion of independent judicial oversight.

The Bundestag responded to the clear call for constitutionality in March 2021. Yet, instead of seizing the moment to align the German legal framework on foreign intelligence collection with international standards and European jurisprudence on proportionate government access to personal data, the reform of the BND Act added deficits to the democratic governance of foreign intelligence.

The new research report authored by Kilian Vieth-Ditlmann and Thorsten Wetzling analyses the new legislation and calls upon the next government to prepare a more comprehensive and rights-based intelligence reform.Read More »Caught in the Act? An analysis of Germany’s new SIGINT reform

State Surveillance and Democracy in the Digital Era: A Transnational Perspective

  • Event

CONFERENCE 18.09. to 19.09.2019 This international research workshop discusses the different publications of the program UTIC (2014-2019) on the communications surveillance practices of police and intelligence services, in particular in France but also on the European and transatlantic level. Thorsten… Read More »State Surveillance and Democracy in the Digital Era: A Transnational Perspective

Kick-off conference at WZB

Workshop of the project team: 13.05.2019, Berlin, Germany This internal kick-off meeting launched the three-year collaborative project between the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, the WZB, Sciences Po Paris, King’s College London and Lyon 3 University. The project, funded by DFG, ANR and ESRC under the fifth… Read More »Kick-off conference at WZB