20260721 Machen wir Advertising-Based Intelligence?

Far more surveillance

According to Interior Minister Dobrindt, German intelligence agencies are set to be granted more and more powers. Now, following the Security Package 2.0, a draft for a far-reaching intelligence reform is on the horizon. It includes government hacking, AI, and “smart” video surveillance. With so much of the stick, one might expect a little carrot as well. But the minister has no interest in transparency.

Not even the simple question of whether the intelligence agencies will use data from commercial data brokers is answered. This is not a theoretical question, because U.S. agencies such as the FBI and the immigration enforcement agency ICE, as well as the Hungarian and Austrian governments, use products from an ADINT (Advertising-Based Intelligence) service provider, according to netzpolitik.org.
What kind of data is available for purchase there?

The Federal Data Protection Commissioner sees no legal basis for the use of such (private) data. An expert opinion by the Scientific Services of the Bundestag and other experts have repeatedly emphasized that an explicit legal basis is required for this. One can surmise that such data is being used, as the explanatory notes to the current draft contain the revealing statement specifying the conditions under which the German foreign intelligence service may pass on data to other agencies: “This provision also covers the transfer of purchased data sets, e.g., extensive advertising data (so-called ADINT data), or data leaks available on the internet.”

If someone is even permitted to pass on such data to foreign intelligence services, then it is highly likely that they will also use it themselves ...