On ZDF, Faeser talks about the Berlin death journey: no claim of responsibility, but "something against Turkey"

Created: 06/09/2022, 12:27 p.m

The guests at "Markus Lanz" (ZDF) on 08.06.2022.

© Cornelia Lehmann/ZDF

Markus Lanz in the digital spotlight: from sexualized violence to hacker attacks, from nuclear power plants to refugees to chat control.

Too much stuff for one show.

Hamburg – The program with Friedrich Merz that was originally recorded for this evening was postponed by one day so that Markus Lanz can bring up a current event: the rampage in Berlin.

But the topics range from the safety of nuclear power plants, hacker attacks, refugees from the Ukraine and the most recent case of child abuse in Wermelskirchen to the EU's plans to want to control all digital expressions of opinion in the future without cause.

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Faeser about Berlin rampage - "Somehow against Turkey"?

"Was that an accident or a deliberate act?" asks Markus Lanz, and it quickly becomes clear that the 29-year-old German-Armenian's rampage in Berlin, in which a teacher was killed and 14 students injured, is simply too recent, to allow an assessment.

Interior Minister Faeser cautiously says there is something to suggest that the act could have been deliberately planned.

But a letter of confession in the car?

No, not that, more like leaflets that are "somehow directed against Turkey".

As a minister, you have no insight into the investigation files, that is a matter for the Berlin police.

Journalist Michael Bröcker finds it "crucial that this young man apparently had 20 offenses in his file", including physical harm.

"How long does someone have to have something on their tally before something happens?" Bröcker asks.

"Most of the time, it's not the perpetrators who come out of nowhere.

When will we see something, and when will our alarm buttons go off at government agencies, but also in the neighborhood?” One should wait and see, Faeser replies.

“I was glad that at least psychological support was made available very quickly.

That people say, hey, something worked there too” in Berlin.

Markus Lanz (ZDF): "We now have more than 700,000 registered refugees"

Change of location: Ukraine.

"We now have more than 700,000 registered refugees," reports Nancy Faeser.

"Every day we observe around 20,000 refugees returning to Ukraine." 20,000, Lanz is amazed.

Bröcker warns: "There are always offers that rooms are made available by dubious private people, that's the only sore point."

Scholz made her Minister of the Interior: Nancy Faeser (SPD).

© Daniel Löb/dpa

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Cyber ​​War: Taking digital data hostage

When it comes to the next topic, “cyber attacks”, it inevitably becomes clear how backward Germany is when it comes to digitization.

Professional hacker Linus Neumann explains what digital warfare is all about: "The military is primarily interested in communication infrastructure." He cannot avoid a truism: "Germany is not yet fully digitized." - "I heard about it... ' Markus Lanz smirks, and Nancy Faeser hurries to explain how hard Germany is now working hard.

also read

Ukraine escalation: Kremlin propagandist threatens Germany with invasion

Turkey lays claim to Greek islands: Erdogan's foreign minister is now following suit

The Ukrainian refugees are "very digitized in their home country".

They have "an expectation that they can do many things digitally." Unfortunately, Germany is "very backward".

Until now.

According to Faeser, you have created an opportunity in the immigration authorities to apply for the residence permit digitally.

"That hasn't happened before.

We want to offer that as a service.” Faeser does not say when the new digitization will reach German citizens.

In order to illustrate the analogue status quo, Lanz happily quotes the head of the chancellery, Wolfgang Schmidt, who recently had to admit what even a chancellor is not yet able to do.

"Olaf Scholz has to go to the Ministry of Defense for encrypted video calls with NATO partners.

Why?” asks Lanz.

Faeser explains: “This technology does not exist in the Chancellery.

I think we still have a lot to do there.” Lanz: “I think so too.”

These guests discussed with Markus Lanz:

• Nancy Faeser

  (Federal Minister of the Interior, SPD)

• Michael Bröcker

  (Editor-in-Chief The Pioneer)

• Julia von Weiler

  (Psychologist)

• Linus Neumann

  (psychologist, hacker and spokesman for the Chaos Computer Club)

Computer specialist Neumann explains that so-called "ransomware attacks" have been part of everyday life for six to seven years.

"A company is hacked, the data is encrypted and a ransom is demanded." Claims in the millions are quite normal.

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Measure of the safety of nuclear plants: How far away do the children sleep?

A "hostage-taking of data", Lanz states and asks where Germany is particularly vulnerable.

About nuclear power plants?

"I have a relatively safe measure of safety in nuclear power plants," explains Neumann.

"I ask those responsible for IT security how far away from the nuclear power plant their children sleep, and that's usually relatively close." A value with particular significance, at least in times before petrol prices exploded.

New topic: The recently uncovered case of sexual violence in Wermelskirchen.

At least 49 abused children, the youngest only a month old - "A new abyss that opens up there," says Lanz.

Frank Schnabel, police chief from Cologne, has his say with a moving statement: "I have never encountered such an extent of inhuman brutality and callous indifference to the suffering of small children, the pain and their screams and their obvious fear."

It was "something disgusting, abnormal," says Faeser, but Lanz gives fatalism free rein: "I don't have the feeling that it's something that's really close to our hearts."

Markus Lanz (ZDF): "This crime never stops"

Psychologist Julia von Weiler sees digitization as "constantly throwing Molotov cocktails".

The supposedly safe home is a misconception.

"If your child is at home and you have the feeling that somehow everything is okay, then nothing might be okay at all," says von Weiler.

Messenger services, emails and chats played a role in two thirds of all cases.

And: "80 percent of the victims are girls between the ages of 11 and 13."

Linus Neumann explains that with "Boystown" a large Darknet forum was recently shut down, but all the links to the files were not deleted at all.

"Why didn't the police feel compelled to do that?" Neumann asks provocatively.

"Securing evidence was the priority," explains Interior Minister Faeser, but wants to set new priorities in the future: "I think the most important thing is to act.

It is a matter close to my heart.

That's why I started with this topic.

I made it one of the main topics in my first speech in the German Bundestag.

It's about action.

And what else belongs to the other action?

How can one use prevention work to dissuade perpetrators from working in this area?”

"This crime never stops," says psychologist von Weiler and wants to hold the providers accountable.

She believes that the European Union's plan to monitor all chat histories across the board and without suspicion is the right approach.

Computer hacker Neumann warns that in this way one would not only search for depictions of violence, but that every kind of image exchange or even just an expression of opinion should be checked.

Every citizen is made a suspect.

As with the corona PCR tests, the false positive rate alone is “in fact gigantic”.

Neumann: “Every single message, every single picture is checked.

Then adults communicate with each other and Interpol checks if that's okay.”

Markus Lanz warns: "People are suspected because they have used some keyword."

Another problem is that this approach has "no effect at all on crime", because it works differently anyway.

"Messengers are not the right platforms for exchanging images."

"Then that means we monitor hundreds of millions of people in the EU," says Lanz.

“We invade their privacy.

Innocents are pilloried.

People come under suspicion because they used some keyword that the algorithm clicks on.”

Faeser dismisses it: "I don't think it's reasonable to look into every encrypted communication.

After all, we don't look into every letter." Computer specialist Neumann warns: One shouldn't "just blindly carry out serious encroachments on fundamental rights".

Markus Lanz (ZDF): The conclusion of the show

A big plus point of this show: With Markus Lanz, every participant can finish speaking again.

That hasn't always been the case lately.

However, the spectrum is large – a bit too large for a single broadcast.

In none of the many topics can the round really go into depth.