has to take account of the increasing shift in communication, and in particular also of
anti-constitutional activities, to the Internet. Access to individual computers is said to
be necessary because it is technically possible to send communication contents such
that access during transmission is impossible. § 7.1 of the North Rhine-Westphalia
Constitution Protection Act is said to contain an adequate encroachment threshold
in this regard. Further substantive criteria and procedural precautions are said to
emerge from § 3 of the Act re Article 10 of the Basic Law in particular. According to
the Government of the Land North Rhine-Westphalia, one should expect the number
of cases of access to information technology systems to be fewer than ten per year.
The regulation as to the obligations of labelling and notification in § 5.3 of the North
Rhine-Westphalia Constitution Protection Act is said to be equally constitutionally unobjectionable. It is said to be not § 5.3 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Constitution
Protection Act which applies to measures of Internet reconnaissance according to §
5.2 no. 11 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Constitution Protection Act, but in fact § 12
of the Act re Article 10 of the Basic Law.
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The empowerment contained in § 5a.1 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Constitution
Protection Act to retrieve account content data is said to be also constitutional. The
phenomenon of so-called home-grown networks pursuing the goal of domestic attacks is said to constitute a new type of considerable risk. The empowerment could
help in the reconnaissance of personal interconnections and channels for funding,
such as in arms procurement, and of the donors of militant groups.
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3. The North Rhine-Westphalian Landtag also considers the constitutional complaints to be unfounded:
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The expansion of international terrorism is said to create a new type of threat which
forces the state to restrict fundamental rights in the interest of effective anti-terror activities. The state based on the rule of law must carefully refine the traditional set of legal tools in order to meet new challenges. In particular, the information technology actionability of the security authorities has to be adjusted to the new circumstances.
Modern communication technologies are being used in the commission and preparation of a wide range of criminal offences, and hence are said to be helping to make
crime more effective.
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It is said to be true that intensive encroachments on fundamental rights are not permissible in classical police law until a certain degree of suspicion or danger exists.
This is however said to be based on a field of activities of authorities which is fundamentally different from the activities of the constitution protection authorities. As a
rule, no direct sanctions or consequences for the persons concerned are linked with
obtaining structural preliminary information in order to reconnoitre terrorist activities.
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Article 13 of the Basic Law is said to not be affected by measures according to § 5.2
no. 11 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Constitution Protection Act. Access to stored
data is said not to aim at overcoming the spatial delimitation of a dwelling. Also, no
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