A child is sexually abused, photos of the crime are sent over the Internet: In such cases, the IP address of the perpetrator's computer is important for the police. Since the data has often already been deleted, Hessen is demanding new rules for telecommunications providers.
Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - In the fight against child abuse and child pornography, Hesse has reaffirmed its demands for the storage of IP addresses. "It's a shame that our investigators in the fight against child abuse are denied the most urgent and important investigative tool - tracking the IP address at the time of the crime," said Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) on Monday in Wiesbaden. "There is an urgent need for action here."
An IP address is a number assigned to a computer for a specific period of time. For example, it can provide investigators with important information about who sent something digitally.
The federal government must finally ensure that IP addresses for the prosecution of the worst crimes have to be kept longer by the telecommunications providers, said Beuth. This data is essential for the success of the investigation, he emphasized. "I will therefore once again urge the Federal Minister of the Interior to finally act at the upcoming conference of interior ministers."
Justice Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) argued that the IP address is often the only means of investigation. "We have to use it to get to the perpetrators." The judgment of the European Court of Justice opens up the possibility of requiring the providers to initially keep this data if serious criminal offenses are suspected. However, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) blocks the storage of IP addresses, said Poseck. "The quick freeze procedure he proposes is not sufficient to combat the serious crimes of child abuse."
In September, the European Court of Justice set strict limits on the storage of telecommunications data to investigate criminal offenses in Germany. The judges ruled that the currently suspended data retention regulation in Germany was incompatible with EU law. At the same time, however, they stated that, in order to combat serious crime, IP addresses could be retained under certain conditions.
With the quick freeze procedure, telecommunications providers are obliged to store data on individual users for a certain period of time if there is an initial suspicion - to "freeze" so to speak. However, this should only be possible in the case of serious crimes such as manslaughter, extortion or child abuse. In addition, a judge must approve the measure. The investigators should only have access to the data or part of it in a second step - that is the so-called "unfreezing". Again, a judge must agree.
German investigators often track down cases of child abuse through reports from the US organization "National Center for Missing and Exploited Children" (NCMEC/National Center for Missing and Exploited Children). According to figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), there were 90,000 tips in the current year alone - of which 25 percent could not have been pursued due to a lack of investigative approaches.
Poseck pointed out that according to the BKA, the success rate could climb to around 90 percent - if the IP addresses had to be stored for a certain period of time. Investigators from the Hessian unit "BAO Focus" also assumed this possible increase. This "special organizational structure for cross-case organizational structure against child pornography and sexual abuse of children" has existed for around two years. Nationwide, more than 300 investigators work in the unit.
"The perpetrators have to feel that the investigators are on their trail," emphasized Poseck. The risk of discovery must be great. That is why it is so important that the officials also have the tools to be able to investigate successfully.
