Wire­less lo­cal area net­work (WLAN) mon­i­tor­ing

General information

Operators of wireless (wifi) internet access networks, like operators of DSL and cable internet access networks, are also legally obliged to make organisational and technical arrangements for implementing intercepts, depending on their number of subscribers or other end-users.

Under the Telecommunications Interception Ordinance (TKÜV) (last amended by the Ordinance of 14 June 2017 (Federal Law Gazette I p 1657) and in force since 21 June 2017), the legal obligation also depends on whether or not the subscribers or other end-users are registered:

1. if subscribers or other end-users are registered, the legal obligation – also applicable to cable-based internet access – applies if more than 10,000 subscribers or other end-users are connected to the telecommunications system (section 3(2) sentence 1 para 5 TKÜV);

2. if only non-registered subscribers or other end-users are connected via wifi to the access network as a whole, the obligation applies if more than 100,000 subscribers or other end-users are connected to the telecommunications system (section 3(2) sentence 1 para 6 TKÜV).

The obligation only applies to a few companies operating large systems and does not apply to operators of smaller systems such as cafés, hotels and libraries, which, for example, offer internet access to their customers using wifi routers.

Cut-off limit

The following methods are used to determine the number of subscribers or other end-users:

1. Registered subscribers or other end-users

As with using mobile networks or setting up email accounts, the number of subscribers or other end-users is taken to be the number of wifi customers with a DSL contract enabling them to use wifi via other locations or who have been registered before using wifi access and therefore have a user account.

2. Non-registered subscribers or other end-users

The number of subscribers or other end-users is based on the estimated or actual number of users (terminals) usually connected to the access network as a whole (ie not just a hotspot) at the same time.