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Interception of communications metadata by mobile phones. IMSI-Catcher and his regulation on the German criminal procedure

Authors

  • Darío Nicolás Rolón Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Alemania
No. 27 (2017): Segundo semestre
https://doi.org/10.5354/0718-4735.2017.47961

Abstract

This article focuses on the enactment of the so called IMSI-Catcher under to the German Procedural Law (§100i StPO), and Constitutional Law. The IMSI-Catcher is a technical device designed by the Firm Rhode and Schwarz in 1996 for searching, identifying, and gathering the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), and also for localizing users of a mobile telephone device connected the Network Global System for Mobile Communication (GMS). The legal framework of the IMSI-Catcher in Germany has been for a long time issue of hard debates around the specific legal provision under which the device shall be employed. In fact, before the current enactment of the IMSI-Catcher under §100i StPO, the device has been employed several times according the argument that the use of IMSI-Catcher lies on some general clauses of evidence (§§161 and 163 StPO) or on already enacted provisions about secrecy of communications (§100 «a», «b» or «c» StPO). This anarchic legal situation enabled the federal and local police, the secret service, and criminal prosecutors to employ the IMSI-Catcher not only in cases of terrorism, but also in a large set of criminal cases. Due to a set of reforms related to others very close connected legal prescriptions, e.g. §100g StPO, and some recent cases in the jurisprudence of the German Constitutional Supreme Court the legal analysis of §100i StPO has been modified. This article consists on a legal analysis of the before mentioned modifications.

Author Biography

Darío Nicolás Rolón, Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Alemania

LL.M Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main. Doctorando en la Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Ex Becario del Servicio de Intercambio Alemán (DAAD) en la Lüdwig Maximilians Universität München y de la Stiftung der Hessischen Rechtsanwaltschaft. Su correo electrónico es nrolon_@hotmail.com.

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How to Cite
Nicolás Rolón, D. (2017). Interception of communications metadata by mobile phones. IMSI-Catcher and his regulation on the German criminal procedure. Revista De Estudios De La Justicia, (27), pp. 61–79. https://doi.org/10.5354/0718-4735.2017.47961
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Revista de Estudios de la Justicia
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Universidad de Chile
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