Doxxing & Co.: Federal Council wants to criminalize "political stalking"

Anyone who stalks politicians in the analog or digital world and attempts to influence them in this way is to be severely punished. The Federal Council approved a bill to this effect on Friday at the initiative of Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein. According to the states, the main aim is to take action against "political stalking". The aim is to protect public officials and elected representatives – including at municipal level – from being influenced by threatening intrusions into their private lives. The aim is to use criminal law to better record cases that were previously difficult to prosecute, such as mayors who are repeatedly intimidated and attacked.

At the heart of the proposed legislation is a new section 106a of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB), entitled "Influencing public officials and elected representatives". This is very broadly worded and remains vague in places. Anyone who "significantly interferes with the life of an elected official or person appointed by the authorities without authorization" in such a way that they give up or no longer wish to exercise their powers, office or mandate is liable to a fine or imprisonment for up to three years.

In particularly serious cases, a prison sentence of between three months and five years would be provided for, which would make it easier for the police to use their toolbox, for example for wiretapping, in their investigations. As a rule, the penalty should be more severe if the political stalking is accompanied by a physical attack or is directed against persons under the age of 21.

Stricter penalties for the use of data for political stalking

According to the proposal, the proposed criminal offense is subject to additional conditions. For example, perpetrators who seek the physical proximity of office and mandate holders or that of one of their relatives or a person close to them are to be included. This also includes approaching the private home of the person concerned. Anyone who attempts to establish private contact with the aforementioned groups via telephone, chat messages, e-mail or third parties will also be liable to prosecution. It should also be possible to punish criminals who improperly place orders for goods or services in the name of elected representatives.

The Federal Council also refers to offenses under the hacking paragraphs that relate to the private data of public officials and elected representatives, as well as relatives or close associates. According to these, it is prohibited to prepare a criminal offense - for example by creating, procuring, selling, transferring, distributing or making accessible passwords or data access to suitable computer programs. This also applies to unauthorized access to specially secured data by overcoming security precautions. Stricter penalties are now to be imposed if the private information obtained in this way is used for political stalking.

According to the draft, threats under Section 241 of the German Criminal Code that are directed against sexual self-determination, physical integrity, personal freedom or property of significant value, as well as other crimes, will also be included.

Comparable offenses should also be covered

The countries also want to criminalize offenders who carry out a "comparable and equally serious act" to the aforementioned activities. The thrust here is likely to be doxxing, in this case the collection and subsequent publication of personal data of public officials and elected representatives with malicious intentions. In 2019, the mass publication of private data of German politicians, journalists, presenters, actors, singers and YouTubers by the Twitter user "0rbit" not only alarmed those affected. However, the openness of the wording of the proposed paragraph at this point leaves a lot of leeway overall.

The Federal Council also wants to expand two existing criminal offenses that currently only protect constitutional bodies and their members at federal and state level from coercion. In the future, these will also protect people at local and European level. This is intended to underline the great importance of decisions in local councils and in European legislation for the democratic constitutional state. In particularly serious cases, the federal states want custodial sentences of between twelve months and ten years to be imposed. Otherwise, there is a threat of three months to five years imprisonment. According to the initiative, attempts at coercion are also punishable. The state chamber will now submit the draft to the Bundestag, which will then decide on it. There is no deadline for this. The federal government can comment beforehand.

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