tion of the individual system can be simultaneously expanded by these means.
In particular the Internet, as a complex combination of computer networks, not only
provides users of a computer that is connected to it with access to a practically limitless mass of information which is ready for retrieval from other network computers. It
also provides them with many new types of communication services, allowing them to
establish and maintain active social contacts. Technical convergence effects also
lead to traditional forms of telecommunication being shifted to the Internet to a considerable extent (see for instance on speech telephony Katko, Computer und Recht –
CR 2005, p. 189).
176
cc) The increasing spread of networked information technology systems entails for
the individual new endangerments of personality, in addition to new possibilities for
the development of the personality.
177
(1) Such endangerments emerge from the fact that complex information technology
systems such as personal computers open up a broad spectrum of use possibilities,
all of which are associated with the creation, processing and storage of data. This is
not only data which computer users create or store deliberately. In the context of the
data processing process, information technology systems also create by themselves
large quantities of further data which can be evaluated as to the user’s conduct and
characteristics in the same way as data stored by the user. As a consequence, a
large amount of data can be accessed in the working memory and on the storage media of such systems relating to the personal circumstances, social contacts and activities of the user. If this data is collected and evaluated by third parties, this can be
highly illuminating as to the personality of the user, and may even make it possible to
form a profile (see on the personality endangerments resulting from such conclusions
BVerfGE 65, 1 (42)).
178
(2) These risks are exacerbated in a variety of ways in a networked system, in particular one which is connected to the Internet. Firstly, the expansion of the facilities offered by networking leads to a situation in which an even greater number and diversity of data is created, processed and stored in comparison to a stand-alone system.
This includes communication contents, as well as data relating to network communication. Wide-ranging knowledge of the personality of the user can be obtained by
storing and evaluating such data on the conduct of the users in the network.
179
Above all, however, the networking of the system opens to third parties a technical
access facility which can be used in order to spy on or manipulate data kept on the
system. The individual cannot detect such access at all in some cases, or at least can
only prevent it to a restricted degree. Information technology systems have now
reached such a degree of complexity that effective social or technical self-protection
leads to considerable difficulties and may be beyond the ability of at least the average
user. Technical self-protection may also entail considerable effort or result in the loss
of the functionality of the protected system. Many possibilities of self-protection –
such as encryption or the concealment of sensitive data – are also largely ineffective
180
27/60