Statistics on telecommunications surveillance: less surveillance, more information
Overall, 11 percent fewer surveillance measures were ordered from the Surveillance and Telecommunications Service (ÜPF) in the year under review. On the other hand, the number of requests for information on telecommunications connections increased.
According to the latest statistics on telecommunications surveillance, the number of real-time surveillance measures has fallen to 1055 compared with the previous year (1296). A decrease was also recorded in the number of retroactive surveillance measures. According to the 2021 report, a total of 6265 retroactive surveillance measures were ordered. This corresponds to a decrease of 896 retroactive measures compared to 2020.
9113 Information on copies of identification documents or contract data
The statistics also include emergency searches for missing persons. This number has increased by 39 percent since 2016. The federal government also mentions more complex information and telephone directory queries. In 2021, law enforcement agencies and the FIS obtained a total of 18 percent more information from the ÜPF service.
A total of 9113 requests for complex information, such as copies of ID documents or contract data, were received. The number of requests for this type of special information increased by 51 percent compared with the previous year. However, simple information such as telephone directory or IP address queries were also used more frequently. This figure rose by 17 percent to 298,342.
In contrast, the number of deployments using special IT tools such as GovWare remained roughly in line with the previous year (11 versus 13 percent). Most of these surveillance measures were used for money laundering and serious narcotics offenses. The number of deployments of so-called IMSI catchers also remained at the previous year's level (112 versus 107 percent). For the most part, these instruments were used in emergency searches for missing persons and narcotics offenses.
Surveillance of the NDB
In 2021, the FIS ordered 47 surveillance operations and issued 7781 requests for information. In the previous year, there were 18 surveillances and 7652 requests for information. It should be noted that the method of counting used by the FIS differs from that used by the FSP service.
Source: NDB
