Germany's new government to move forward with a mixed digital agenda

“Digital” is written big in the coalition agreement of the new Conservative-Social Democrat Coalition. There are, at least, big words like “taking back technological sovereignty” or “making Germany the number one in IT.” When it comes to concrete measures, the words and projects get a little more handy. A project to fund “Innovation in IT-research and security”, a “voluntary year of digital social service” or a new state funded “Internet Institute.” So what can you expect from a new German government over the next four years, really? Bad things like the final implementation of the data retention directive in the first place, activists warn.

The 185-page paper that three parties, Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian ally, the Christian Socialist Party and, the Social Democrats have carved out, includes some strong intentions: it starts with a chapter on a digital agenda and goes onto tackling net neutrality, the consequences of the NSA-scandal and more.

In search of an IT industry

The text can certainly be read as a pledge to put Germany on the map of IT innovation, where the country has not performed particularly well, when compared to other large EU countries. IT is acknowledged as a key industry and one that permeates all those industries the industrial heavyweight has been very successful at, automotive, medical engineering, big industrial facility designs, to name the most obvious. More IT know-how, more IT start-ups, more IT innovation – the paper underlines that the new government wants to support that via educational initiatives – including through a call for more women in IT sounds good and politically correct, but also a little desperate, the administration's support for young companies or more public spending and making available of relevant research.

Industry 4.0, embedded systems, internet of things and big data are buzzwords that the politicians felt inspired about. “Our aim is to retain platforms and production lines for key technologies and IT know-how (IT security, networks, embedded systems, process and enterprise software, cryptography, machine-to-machine communication) in Germany and Europe,” the declared goal reads, while the market may be beyond that already. Cynical observers could ask if instead of “retain,” perhaps the parties to the agreement rather meant “regain”.

Funding commitments?

The lack of financial commitments to some of the declared goals in the long paper has been criticised since the agreement has been published. While ubiquitous broadband (50 Mbit/S by 2018 for everybody in Germany) is a promise made, the main instruments to realise it are explained as incentives and cheap loans for the network operators to wire (on the ground or in the air) rural areas. But the originally envisaged annual Billion Euro to spur the development was dropped from the final text.

“Others shall pay,” the magazine The European warned. While the coalition is cautions with allocations of funds to specific projects, it could have made bolder moves on the infrastructure for the digital agenda as a whole. Instead, The European grumbles, cyber warriors get a boost.

Prevent the sell-out of security know-how

The projects on IT security that are mentioned in the coalition agreement include an obligation for public authorities to spend 10 percent of their IT budget on security, a new phishing hotline, more money for agencies dedicated to IT security and also more IT-funding for the security services. A “leading edge cluster IT security and critical infrastructures” will be initiated, the coalition members promise and, go on to guarantee that they will check “how much the sell-off of key security technology can be prevented.” These declarations, too, while pointing to the aims of preventing espionage against companies and citizens, also sounds somewhat desperate.

Moreover, the clear announcement to finally implement the much criticised EU data retention directive – while it is still before the EU court and under review in the European Union – goes into another direction, or does it not mean to create yet another large database, ready to be nicely mined for personally identified data, by everybody who can get in? It was good to avoid to pay for non-compliance to the EU, the paper of the government coalition hopeful reads. A feeble argument. En passant, the data has to be stored on servers in Germany.

Given these announcements, the balance between “security and freedom” might change despite the prominent mention of data protection (and German standards for it), privacy by default and design and anonymity in the text. “Security” - including all sorts of security, though – is mentioned 200 times in the coalition agreement – a key goal.

Net neutrality, copyright in the digital age and open access

Certainly, top issues in digital agendas, like broadband, net neutrality, copyright reform and open access, can all be found in the agreement. “Granting net neutrality will be one of the aims of the government,” according to the text. The national regulatory authority shall be empowered technically and with staff to check on violations and deep packet inspection shall be legally banned as a tool to allow discriminatory handling of packages. Mobile operators would be obliged to make an offer, even if separated from the basic service, to use VoIP services.

Net neutrality activists should like this statement, but certainly will need to wait and see how once in power, the new government will follow-up to them - which certainly is true for everything in this type of document. Some observers have warned that non-neutral traffic handling could occur with the help of back doors.

Copyright advocates could, on their side, not be satisfied with the announcements made. Some pointed their fingers at the revival of old proposals and the possibility that the government coalition might make steps towards stricter legislation. It should be acknowledged that there is a pledge for better access and copyright exemptions for the academic and educational sector. But there is in fact not a lot of new, let a alone inspirational, thinking on the copyright front. Users shall be educated about the value of intellectual property – this sounds politically correct and pretty well-known. Access to publicly funded resources and a programme to support open research databases (joining the Open government coalition is also in the planning) and open access publications from research institutions are briefly mentioned. Research and education, in IT especially, are mentioned as one of the key tasks.

Real news, however, is without a doubt the state-funded Internet Institute, which is expected to make research on the net and “digital society.” Perhaps the coalition got the feeling that there is a backlog in German politics with regard to a more in-depth understanding of internet policy, Chancellor Angela Merkel herself, when talking about the NSA scandal said that the internet was “uncharted territory for all of us.” It may also be a result of the Internet Enquete Commission, which had been chartered to do some leg work to deepen the understanding of core issues of internet policy during the last legislature.

Germany in international internet policy

Germany has so far very much taken a backseat in international internet politics. It participates in all fora (ICANN, IGF, RIPE, IETF, ITU internet related work, EuroDIG), but the teams from the responsible ministries and agencies have been very, very small. “Internet standards organisations have to become more transparent. Moreover, Germany has to engage more with these organisations and other international bodies that work on the architecture and governance of the Internet.”

Being the quiet observer of international debates so far, Germany needed Edward Snowden and, more so,  the news that Merkel herself had been a target of US spying activities, in order to push the country to become outspoken on the international level about an internet policy related matter.

The German-Brazilian joint proposal at the United Nations to draw a legal line on what secret services could do is reflected in the coalition paper: “to protect the fundamental and freedom rights of citizens in the digital world and to ensure democratic rights to participate in communication networks, we will push for an international internet law (…). The right to privacy, granted in the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights has to be adapted to the digital age.” Will Germany step up in internet politics on the international agenda?

The developments around the UN initiative, which has already been softened, might tell you otherwise. One journalistic observer pointed out that it might be telling that the foreign policy is mentioned last in the coalition paper. The German digital agenda, even if completely implemented will not exactly catapult the country to the avant-garde either.