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+title: German Federal Constitutional Court demands more oversight on BND spying
+date: 2020-05-19 13:19:45 
+updated: 2020-05-19 13:19:45 
+author: erdgeist
+tags: update, pressemitteilung
+
+The German foreign intelligence service must be subject to more oversight, but may continue mass surveillance of telecommunication. Today's judgement serves as a powerful reminder to lawmakers that the previous law governing the BND was grossly unconstitutional.
+
+<!-- TEASER_END -->
+
+Today, with its ruling \[1\] on the "BND law" – which covers the German
+foreign intelligence service – the Federal Constitutional Court has
+recognized the present practice of unrestricted mass surveillance of
+communications by the Federal Intelligence Service as unconstitutional.
+The ruling puts an end to the previous approach to mass surveillance, in
+which the secret service was essentially free to act as it pleased,
+without effective oversight, and regarded non-Germans as fair game for
+surveillance. The ruling mandates future regulation to provide for
+independent and comprehensive oversight of the secret service's
+surveillance activities. A corresponding oversight authority must be
+established.
+
+By recognising the validity of fundamental rights for foreigners, the
+court has anchored fundamental human rights. Unfortunately the details
+of the ruling allow the continuation of the previous technical BND
+practices of surveillance, only with more selective targeting, better
+legal justification and under a new supervisory authority. The
+government was ordered to better protect the core areas of private
+self-expression of those subject to BND surveillance measures.
+
+"Everything will hinge on the means and authority with which the new BND
+control authority will be equipped. That will determine whether it will
+actually be able to oversee the secret service in practice. At the end
+of the day, those things will decide the lasting relevance of this
+verdict", said Frank Rieger, a speaker for the Chaos Computer Club.
+"While the court did not end the practice of mass surveillance per se,
+it did prescribe better regulation and oversight."
+
+The Constitutional Court has also imposed restrictions on the huge grey
+area of the international exchange of intelligence wiretap data, which
+the public has known about at least since the Snowden revelations. In
+particular, the previous practice of data exchange without oversight,
+thus circumventing interception restrictions in individual states, will
+no longer be possible for the BND. The shadowy realm of bilateral
+intelligence agreements must now - as far as the BND is concerned - be
+subjected to oversight and accountability.
+
+"Unfortunately, the court has not been able to bring itself to end the
+global surveillance practice of the BND as a matter of principle, but is
+only trying to press it into a more concrete legal framework",
+summarized Rieger. "That the basic rights apply in principle to all
+people worldwide is an important decision, which is unfortunately
+however already undercut in the judgement itself by the numerous
+exceptions for restricting constitutional rights."
+
+In 2017, even before the BND-NSA parliamentary investigations were over,
+the BND law was reformed, essentially legalizing what the foreign secret
+service had been doing for years illegally anyway. A long overdue actual
+and effective reform of intelligence oversight was not undertaken.
+
+With this ruling, the Federal Constitutional Court has once again ruled
+a surveillance law to be unconstitutional. The fact that our government
+is consistent in being either unwilling or unable to draft laws that
+hold up to constitutional scrutiny is and remains a scandal. Government
+must adjust to recognize the existence of the constitution and figure
+out whether it feels it can continue to produce major screwups like the
+breach of the citation requirement. Whatever motivated them to allow the
+secret services to think up absurd quasi-legal (and now officially
+court-destroyed) notions like "Outer Space Theory" or "Functionary
+Theory": It does not seem to be working out.
+
+The Chaos Computer Club acted as an expert for the Federal
+Constitutional Court in the course of the proceedings and has written a
+statement on the matter. \[3\]\[4\]
+
+## Links:
+
+-   \[1\] [Federal Constitional Court: Statement 19 May 2020
+    (English)](https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2020/bvg20-037.html)
+-   \[2\] [Background to the complaint at Reporters Without Borders
+    (German)](https://www.reporter-ohne-grenzen.de/pressemitteilungen/meldung/verfassungsbeschwerde-gegen-das-bnd-gesetz/)
+-   \[3\] [Statement regarding the expert brief
+    (German)](/de/updates/2020/bnd-gesetz-bverfg)
+-   \[4\] [Expert brief of the Chaos Computer Club on the complaint to
+    the BVerfG regarding foreign surveillance
+    (German)](/system/uploads/290/original/BNDgesetz_CCC-Stellungnahme.pdf)