At 12:52 AM 6/4/97 GMT+0200, Ulf Möller wrote:
This is a gross exaggeration. "Pattern investigation" can be used to investigate certain severe crimes that cannot be solved otherwise. It must be warranted by a judge, naming the patterns that the respective committer is believed to match. There have been three "pattern investigations" ever, since the law was passed in 1991 (none of them successful).
The German authorities conducted pattern investigations long before 1991. The early 80's kidnapping of the industrialist comes to mind. [The kidnapping that ultimately caused the suspected co-conspirators to be sucided in their solitary confinement maximum security cells. Cells that were under 24h audio surveilance. Unfortunatly, the tapes for that fateful night mysteriously disappeared...] But note the requirement you mention: "severe crimes...warranted by a judge". Where have we heard this one before? Right. The four horsemen of the infocalypse. --Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred. Put a stake through the heart of DES! Join the quest at http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm