Grüne on digital affairs

The Greens want to advance the digitalization of business and science and bring artificial intelligence into wider practical use. AI development, cybersecurity and digital skills would be supported, and using data would become easier. The state would act as a customer buying innovative digital products.

The Greens want more digital tools in companies and universities. Artificial intelligence should be used more often. A simple test would show which rules apply to an AI program. The state itself should buy new digital products.

The Mittelstandsdigitalzentren (digital centers for small and mid-sized firms) would be developed further to build digital skills in companies and universities. The Dateninstitut (data institute) would be set up quickly. A quick check for AI systems would show users which risk class and which duties apply to their use case. Also planned are conditions for interoperable standards and secure data exchange along the whole value chain. Public purchasing would favor open-source solutions and offers from startups and smaller firms, with IT security ensured.

The Greens want to create a Germany app through which all government services gradually become available. Public offices are to work more digitally, ask for data only once, and keep offline access open where it is needed.

The Greens want to introduce a Germany app. People should be able to handle things with public offices in the app. For example, they could apply for an ID card. People should only have to enter their data once. Those who do not use the internet can still go to the office.

The app would be developed together with states and municipalities, be open source and accessible, and allow tasks such as registering a new address. Behind it would sit a modular, standardized IT architecture for all levels of government, with long-term funding secured. Registers are to be modernized and linked so that agencies themselves retrieve data that was entered once. An open-source government cloud and an expanded data protection cockpit are also planned. Automation and AI are to be used where ethically defensible, and staff are to get more discretion and digital training.

The Greens want to bring responsibilities for digitalization together in a digital ministry. In the platform's view, digitalization has so far also faltered because responsibilities are scattered. Open standards are also meant to make IT systems work together.

The Greens want a ministry for digital matters. Everything about digitalization should come together there. The ministry should also manage the money for IT. Computer systems of companies and public offices should fit together better.

The ministry would be in charge of digital infrastructure, digital administration, centralized procurement, oversight of digital laws, international digital policy, and support for open source. All federal IT budgets would sit in a single budget section and be managed centrally. Services such as BundID and the Germany app are to be advanced, and the digital check for legislation is to be developed further. Open, royalty-free, and well-documented standards are meant to connect the systems of companies, agencies, and research institutions; developers, civil society, and small and medium-sized businesses are to be involved in new standards.

The Greens want to make data protection simpler and less bureaucratic to implement without lowering the level of protection. Data protection oversight is to become more uniform. The state is to make its own data available proactively.

The Greens want to make data protection rules simpler. The protection of data should stay just as good. The oversight agencies should work in a more uniform way. The state should show its own data openly.

According to the platform, sharing data is meant to boost innovation and productivity. The General Data Protection Regulation is to be applied more efficiently and uniformly. Responsibilities for certain sectors or for research could be bundled at individual oversight authorities. The conference of federal and state data protection authorities is to get a permanent structure. A legal right to open data and a transparency law are meant to make government data openly accessible.

The Greens want fast internet in cities and rural areas alike. To that end, permits are to be issued faster, rural regions are to get more funding, and customers' rights to fast internet are to be strengthened.

The Greens want fast internet everywhere. Building fiber and 5G networks should go faster. The state should give more money for this in rural areas. Customers should find it easier to show that their internet is too slow.

Permitting procedures are to be sped up and alternative methods of laying cables made easier. Open access, meaning that different providers can use the networks, is to be promoted. State gigabit funding for rural and structurally weak areas is to rise according to need. The legal minimum bandwidth is to be raised step by step. Consumers are to be able to prove a deficient connection more easily and get better access.

The Greens want to better protect children and teenagers from the mental and social effects of excessive social media use. To do so, platform algorithms are to be regulated more strictly and safe default settings required.

Social media can harm children. The Greens want stricter rules for the platforms. The party does not want to allow programs designed to make children addicted. Devices and services should have safe settings from the start.

The party does not want to accept algorithms designed to make children dependent. Services and devices are to have safe default settings, called "kids-safety-by-default" in the platform. Data protection rules are to safeguard minors' privacy. A citizens' assembly that includes children and teenagers is to discuss questions of digital youth protection. By the end of the legislative term, the Bundestag is to adopt a further package of measures.

The Greens want to replace paper records in health care with digital tools and expand the electronic patient record. This is meant to cut red tape and increase the benefit for patients. Protection of health data is to remain strong.

Health care still uses a lot of paper. The Greens want to change that. Vaccination and maternity records should be digital. Patient data should be well protected. People, not computers, will still decide on treatment.

Maternity records, vaccination records, and checkup booklets are to go digital; X-rays and lab results are to be added to the electronic patient record. Where it makes medical sense, treatment is to be documented fully digitally. Medical confidentiality is to apply digitally as well, and when AI is used, professional staff are to have the final say on therapies. A medical registry law is to make data more available for research and care. With better data, the party also wants to reduce gaps in care between genders.

The Greens want a digital violence protection law so that illegal content such as insults or incitement to hatred is deleted and the accounts behind it are blocked faster. The platform sees democracy at risk when hate and disinformation spread systematically online.

There is hate and there are lies on the internet. The Greens want a new law against this. Illegal posts should be deleted. The accounts behind them should be blocked faster. Police and prosecutors should pursue crimes on the internet.

The EU's Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act are to be enforced consistently and at arm's length from the state, and improved where needed. Social network algorithms are to ensure a diverse information landscape. The state media authorities are to get more resources to cooperate on deleting and prosecuting online hate crime. The EU's AI Act is to be implemented with little red tape and uniformly across Germany. AI is to enable innovation while protecting human rights and freedom from discrimination.

The Greens want to curb targeted disinformation campaigns that, in their view, aim to influence elections and divide society. Systematically spreading disinformation on behalf of a foreign state is to become a crime. Large platforms are to be required to take effective countermeasures.

Some states spread false news on purpose. The Greens want to fight this. People who do this for a foreign state should be punished. Big online platforms should do more against it.

The national strategy against disinformation would be developed further together with researchers and civil society. Independent bodies are to detect deepfakes and coordinated campaigns early, and media education is meant to help. Artificial spreading through bots would also be addressed, and trading in likes and followers banned as an unfair business practice. For anonymous accounts, the "login trap" and court-ordered account suspensions are to make prosecution possible. Measures are planned against platforms that authoritarian states use for disinformation.

The Greens want to better protect IT infrastructure against attacks with a cybersecurity strengthening act. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is to become more independent and serve as the central authority. The platform cites yearly damage of more than 200 billion euros to the economy.

Hackers attack the computers of companies and agencies. The Greens want to protect the technology better. A new law should do this. The federal IT security office should get more tasks.

According to the platform, the attacks come mainly from abroad, especially from China and Russia. Legal and technical foundations are to be created for so-called digital embassies, so that important public databases stay available in a crisis. The EU cybersecurity directive is to be implemented quickly and with little red tape. People who systematically look for security flaws in the public interest are to get legal certainty and support.