Wanted

When intelligence services purchase personal data from commercial vendors this raises important questions about the legality and proportionality of their access to and processing of such data. A recent legal assessment by the German Parliament’s Research Service finds no clear legal basis for the use of advertisement intelligence (ADINT) in the country’s legal framework for intelligence collection. While other European countries have started to tackle this growing practice through legislation and oversight, clear legal provisions for data purchases from commercial vendors have yet to be written into Germany’s intelligence law. Policymakers should seize the opportunity of the pending intelligence reform to hone-in on the public-private coproduction of intelligence and fill current regulatory gaps.

Just before Christmas, Bayerischer Rundfunk, netzpolitik.org, and tagesschau.de reported on a consequential assessment of the German Parliament’s Research Service[1] whether...

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