Data trading under the radar: When even the state shops at brokers

Anyone using a weather app or fiddling with their smartphone usually doesn't suspect that the resulting GPS coordinates could end up on the digital market – and from there directly onto the monitors of state investigators. What sounds like a distant surveillance scenario is a realistic option in Germany: In a response to an inquiry from the Left Party, the federal government admits that the acquisition of personal data from commercial data brokers could be appropriate in individual cases. However, a systematic recording of these purchases does not take place. The extent of global trade is particularly explosive: 3.6 billion location data points from eleven million mobile phones from Germany alone have already been offered to journalists as a sample. These data flows often arise through third-party software packages (SDKs) or during "Real Time Bidding" in online advertising.

The government is trying to legally legitimize the potential data purchase by classifying advertising databases as "publicly accessible sources." Experts consider this interpretation to be extremely dangerous. Munich criminal lawyer Mark Zöller describes a possible purchase by security authorities as illegal due to a lack of legal basis, telling the BR. Federal Data Protection Commissioner Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider emphasizes that even publicly accessible data is subject to personality protection and that mass purchases inevitably affect uninvolved individuals. The scientific service of the Bundestag also sees indications in an expert opinion published by Netzpolitik.org that data purchasing is already becoming part of official information management. This could allow intelligence agencies to bypass control bodies and obtain information that they could not legally obtain through traditional surveillance. Other researchers warned back in 2024: Intelligence agency data purchases violate constitutional standards.

Left Party demands legal restriction

Despite public interest, the executive branch remains silent on details. Information about used providers such as Datarade or Venntel, as well as about specific methods, is treated as a state secret: Answering questions about police procedures could jeopardize the operational capability of security authorities and lead "hostile powers" to develop countermeasures. Data trading turns out to be a boomerang for state security: Reporters have already managed to create movement profiles of high-ranking officials and intelligence agency employees based on broker data. The availability of these precise data sets also poses a significant risk to military facilities and critical infrastructure, as foreign services can use them for reconnaissance.

While the Federal Ministry for the Environment describes the trade in personal data for its own sake as incompatible with data protection law, the federal government as a whole relies primarily on sensitizing its own employees. It provides tips for configuring private IT, while simultaneously supporting the business model of data brokers as a potential customer. The EU Commission, meanwhile, warns of intransparent practices that destroy trust in digital markets and undermine fundamental rights. The Left Party's digital politician Donata Vogtschmidt therefore calls for a legal restriction so that security authorities do not further fuel the uncontrolled trade in advertising data. However, greater transparency or even a ban on official data purchases are not in sight, as parliamentary information rights in the security sector must take a back seat to the public good.

(vbr)