Germany to invest 100 million euros on Internet surveillance

BERLIN -- The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) plans to invest 100 million euros (133 million US dollars) on new technologies and hiring more people to expand Internet surveillance, local media reported over the weekend.

According to a Spiegel Online report on Sunday, the German government has released 5 million euros of the 100-million-euro program, which will be spent over a period of five years.

The report said the BND plans to expand its surveillance on communications between Germany and foreign countries from 5 percent to 20 percent, the maximum data traffic it can monitor by German law. The BND monitors and filters the data to track down terrorism suspects.

"We have to balance out a loss of control over the communication of criminals through new legal and technological means," Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told the paper.

Meanwhile, Die Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that the minister wanted to introduce a system by asking non-EU citizens to register online and pay a fee before being allowed into Germany so as to improve security and prevent terrorism.