to the protection of the core area of private life do not satisfy the constitutional requirements.
a) § 20k sec. 1 BKAG authorises access to information technology systems and permits covert remote searches of information technology systems, by means of which
data saved or stored on the affected person’s private computer or other computers
linked thereto (for example in “the cloud”) can be collected and the person’s online
behaviour can be tracked. The provision thus permits interference with the fundamental right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of information technology
systems (Art. 2 sec. 1 in conjunction with Art. 1 sec. 1 GG).
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With this stand-alone manifestation of the general right of personality, the Constitution takes account of the significance of the use of information technology systems,
which nowadays reaches deep into privacy, for the development of personality (cf.
BVerfGE 120, 274 <302 et seq.>). Today, diary-like written expressions, intimate
statements, or other written manifestations of highly personal experience, film or audio recordings are increasingly generated, saved and in part exchanged in electronic
form. A large part of highly personal communication takes place electronically by
means of communications services over the internet or in the context of internetbased social networks. This data, whose confidentiality the persons concerned depend upon and trust in, is largely no longer to be found on personal information technology systems alone but rather on that of third parties. The fundamental right to the
guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems therefore protects against covert access to this data, and thus in particular against remote
searches whereby private computers as well as other information technology systems are manipulated and read, and whereby personal data stored on external
servers with a reasonable expectation of confidentiality is accessed and movements
on the web of the persons concerned are tracked. Given the often highly personal nature of this data, which arises in particular when it is taken as a whole, this constitutes
a particularly intense interference with this fundamental right. Its weight is commensurable with that of an interference with the inviolability of the home.
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b) The requirements of § 20k secs. 1 and 2 BKAG with regard to access to information technology systems, when interpreted in conformity with the Constitution, satisfy
the constitutional requirements.
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aa) Interferences with the right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of
information technology systems, however, are subject to strict conditions (cf. BVerfGE 120, 274 <322 et seq., 326 et seq.>). Specifically, the measures must be contingent on factual indications that a specific impending danger to an exceptionally significant legal interest is present in the individual case. § 20k sec. 1 BKAG satisfies this
requirement. […]
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§ 20k sec. 1 sentence 2 BKAG, however, must be subject to a restrictive interpretation in conformity with the Constitution. The possibility presented in this provision of
carrying out measures in advance of a specific danger if certain facts indicate that, in
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