German Constitutional Court Upholds Use of Anom Data in Criminal Cases

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany has ruled that there are no fundamental constitutional concerns regarding the use of Anom chat data for investigating criminal activities. The court declined to hear a constitutional complaint from an individual challenging his conviction based on such data.

The case involves data obtained from encrypted devices sold by Anom, a company that provided specialized smartphones to criminal organizations, which were then monitored by the FBI. These devices allowed law enforcement to intercept and read encrypted messages, raising questions about the admissibility of the resulting evidence in German courts.

In a previous ruling, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) confirmed that investigators could utilize this chat data to solve serious crimes. The Constitutional Court's decision indicates a similar stance, dismissing concerns about potential violations of constitutional rights. The individual who brought the complaint had been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for drug trafficking, largely based on evidence derived from his communications on the Anom platform.

While the court acknowledged that details surrounding the collection, storage, and sharing of these data are not fully disclosed, particularly regarding the involvement of an unidentified EU member state where a server was located, it deemed this irrelevant for determining the admissibility of the evidence in Germany. The court found the constitutional complaint inadmissible.

Furthermore, the court stated that, beyond this specific case, there is no substantial evidence suggesting that the manner of collecting Anom data would categorically prevent its use as evidence in legal proceedings.

This ruling underscores the ongoing legal and ethical discussions surrounding digital privacy and law enforcement's ability to leverage technology in combating crime, particularly when it involves cross-border data sharing and international law enforcement cooperation.