Federal court approves recording of keystrokes

The Federal Supreme Court has approved the use of software to record a suspect's keystrokes. The Zurich public prosecutor's office was able to use a so-called keylogger to obtain passwords of a suspect who was dealing drugs on the darknet.

In a ruling published on Wednesday, the Federal Supreme Court upheld an appeal by the Zurich chief public prosecutor's office. In the context of a criminal investigation against unknown perpetrators who traded in narcotics on the darknet, various secret surveillance measures were carried out by the Zurich public prosecutor's office. In order to gain more insight into the extent of drug trafficking, it became necessary to obtain the suspect's passwords. A compulsory measures court initially refused to allow the use of a so-called keylogger to record the offender's keystrokes.

The Federal Supreme Court has now upheld this appeal by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Zurich and approved the surveillance measure for a certain period of time. The requirements for the use of a technical surveillance device within the meaning of Article 280 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) are met.

Source: Federal Court