Germany Considers Spying on Kids Under 14

With gang activity and adolescent crime on the rise, spying and storing data about minors is one proposed way to combat the worsening crime situation in Germany.

Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) has called for lowering the current age threshold that limits the domestic intelligence agency’s ability to monitor and collect personal data on people. Under current German law, the domestic intelligence service is not permitted to store data on individuals under the age of 14.

“The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has determined that radicalization in all scenes begins in childhood and adolescence,” Schuster stated. He questioned whether “the age limit for registration at 14 will still be sufficient.”

Criticism of such proposals has come from human rights advocates. In 2018, the German Institute for Human Rights warned that expanding intelligence powers to include children could seriously infringe on fundamental rights.

“The right to privacy includes, in particular, data processing,” the institute noted in a report, referencing protections found in both Germany’s Basic Law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Sweden has already tried to pass a similar law that would allow the wiretapping and surveillance of children under 15, without needing probable cause.

Critics say that the rise of immigration brings a risk for radicalization of youth that does need to be controlled, but that spying on children under 14 could lead to serious overstepping of boundaries and unchecked control over the population.