Crime-Busting Search Engine for Germany’s Internet Cops

Secretary of State at the German Ministry of the Interior Claus Henning Schapper announced a dedicated Internet search engine for tracking online crime at the inaugural speech at the Sixth German Conference on IT Security, held by the federal office for IT security May 17 through 19 in Bonn.

The engine is to be developed jointly by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Office for IT Security and the Federal Criminal Police Office.

Schapper said that the German government had adopted a policy on the secure use of new virtual technologies. Schapper went on to say that the integration of IT security in product and service development provided the most effective method for the protection of legal rights. These rights, he noted, were under threat in telecommunications networks from criminal activity including hacking and industrial espionage.

“The opportunities provided by the World Wide Web boom are of course accompanied by risks,” he continued. “Among the problems is the growing misuse of new technology by criminals and extremists.”

“The range of criminal activity on the Internet is extremely worrying. It runs from gambling, infringement of intellectual property rights, to the offer for sale of stolen goods, drugs and weapons,” he added.

“It includes instructions on bomb making, the distribution of extremist ideology, writing in praise of violence and child pornography. Crimes, such as fraud, money laundering, industrial espionage and sabotage are on the increase,” he concluded.

The search engine will make it easier for the police to detect crime on the Internet, as well as helping them to obtain evidence and the names and addresses of those responsible for the transmission of illegal material.

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