What do the parties in Berlin say on digital affairs?

The AfD rejects the EU's planned scanning of private messenger communications. The Berlin Senate is to commit to protecting privacy, and state agencies would be barred from technically assisting in such monitoring. The program warns of mass surveillance and false suspicions.

The EU wants private chat messages to be searched automatically. This is called chat control. The AfD is against it. Berlin's public offices should not be allowed to help with it. A new rule should ban such scans on private devices.

The CDU wants to crack down harder on digital violence, especially against women. Psychological and digital violence should be fully covered by criminal law, and legal gaps, for example around deepfakes, should be closed.

Violence also happens online. The CDU wants to do more against it. This affects women most of all. Emotional abuse should also be a crime. Fake pictures and videos should be punishable.

The CDU wants data protection in Berlin to be practical and innovation-friendly and rejects what it sees as excessive interpretations. Whatever EU law allows should also be possible in Berlin.

Data protection should slow down companies less. The rules should apply the same way everywhere. What the EU allows, Berlin should allow too. The CDU wants a balance between privacy and business.

The CDU considers fast internet to be in the overriding public interest and wants to speed up network expansion with uniform digital permitting. Fiber is to reach all the way into homes, and Berlin is to prepare for future standards such as 6G.

Berlin should get faster internet. Fiber cables should reach every home. Permits should be digital and faster. Berlin should also get ready for new mobile networks.

The CDU wants to bundle every step of founding a company on one central digital platform. Grant applications are to be handled digitally, pre-screened automatically and decided within 14 days.

Founders should do everything in one place. It should all work online. Requests for funding should be checked quickly. There should be an answer after 14 days.

The CDU wants to continue digitizing Berlin's administration, both for citizens and internally. Beyond the more than 450 digital services, internal processes are to go digital too, and the party commits to Berlin's open-source strategy.

Many public services in Berlin are already online. The CDU wants to make even more digital. Work inside the offices should also go digital. Berlin should use open software for this. This is called open source.

The Greens want to help Berlin companies use artificial intelligence, but attach conditions. Productivity gains should also benefit employees, and AI systems should be tested for discrimination before they are used in sensitive areas.

The Greens want to help companies use AI. AI means artificial intelligence. Workers should also benefit from it. AI must not treat people unfairly, for example in job applications. So the systems should be tested first.

The Greens want to move schools and universities step by step to European, open-source and public-interest software. This is meant to reduce dependence on providers outside Europe and strengthen data protection. University IT security is also to be improved.

Schools and universities often use software from companies outside Europe. The Greens want to change that. They want open software from Europe. Anyone can inspect and check open software. University computers should also become safer.

The Greens want to strengthen Berlin's data protection commissioner and extend her powers to the security agencies. To that end, the EU's Law Enforcement Directive is to be fully implemented, including sanctioning powers. IT procedures are to safeguard privacy.

The Greens want to protect personal data better. Berlin's data protection commissioner should get more rights. She should also be allowed to check the police and other security agencies. She should be able to impose penalties for violations.

The Greens want to give priority to digitalizing the justice system. Now that electronic case files have been introduced, workflows and organization are to be adapted and digital assistance systems used to relieve staff. In court proceedings, a human being is always to make the final decision.

The courts should work more digitally. Computer programs should help with the work. This should take pressure off judges. But a human should always decide in the end. There should be Wi-Fi everywhere in the courts.

The Greens want dealings with public offices to work without hunting for appointments, waiting in line or confusing forms. They plan a digital citizens' office, a Berlin app with all administrative services and a service portal organized by life situations. An independent digital council is to advise the Senate.

The Greens want to make dealing with public offices easier. There should be a citizens' office online. It offers advice by video and plain language. A Berlin app should bundle all public services. People who need help can also get it in person.

The Greens want to complete Berlin's Digital Act and enshrine in it a right to communicate digitally with the administration. State software contracts are to be awarded only to open-source projects. The law is also to include standards for accessibility and open data.

The Greens want to finish a digital law for Berlin. Everyone should have the right to contact public offices digitally. Berlin should only order open-source software. With open source, anyone can look at the program code. The administration should publish its data on its own initiative.

The Greens want to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the administration by law. The rules are to guard against risks such as structural discrimination and uphold data protection. Decisions about people are always to be made by people.

Artificial intelligence can take work off the administration. But the Greens also see dangers. AI can treat people unfairly. So a law should regulate how it is used. In the end, a human should always decide.

The Greens want to reduce the administration's dependence on US and Chinese technology corporations. To do so, the state-owned ITDZ Berlin is to be expanded into a platform provider, and open source is to take priority over proprietary software. Data protection and security are to apply from the outset in all software development.

Berlin's administration uses a lot of technology from big US and Chinese companies. The Greens want to depend on them less. The state's IT center should grow and offer its own platforms. Open software should come first. Data should be well protected and encrypted.

The Left wants to create good conditions for startups and digital companies and to give special support to artificial intelligence applications. The discontinued funding for small businesses' digitalization projects should return, and alternative brokerage platforms owned by their workers should be built.

The Left wants to support young digital companies in Berlin. Artificial intelligence should also get funding. Small businesses should again get money for digital projects. Drivers should be able to build their own platforms. These are online services that pass on jobs.

The Left regards digital participation as a basic right and part of public services. Services in administration, education, culture and social support are to remain available both online and in person. Places that help people get into the digital world are to receive lasting funding.

Everyone should be able to use the internet. No one should be left out for lack of money, devices or knowledge. Public offices should be reachable online and in person. Poor children and poor older people should get special help.

The Left wants to protect digital spaces for young people and relies on building skills rather than strict bans. Every district would have a well-equipped media literacy center. In the party's view, it is the platforms that should be controlled, not children and teenagers.

The Left does not want to ban social media for young people. Young people should learn to handle digital media well. Every district should have a center for this. The party wants to control the platforms, not the children.

The Left wants digital government to be built around protecting personal data and to become less dependent on individual tech corporations. Government websites should do without non-essential tracking, and the state data protection commissioner should get more powers.

The Left wants to protect people's data better. Government websites should not track what users do. Berlin should not depend on a few big tech companies. The data protection commissioner should be able to check and give orders.

The Left wants Berlin's government IT to be modular, openly documented and based on open source. Software built with public money should be available as open source code. According to the platform, this is meant to reduce dependence on individual vendors.

The Left wants to rebuild the computer systems of Berlin's public offices. Software should be open. That means everyone can see and reuse the code. Berlin should buy software together with other German states. This should make Berlin less dependent on single companies.

The Left wants to expand open wireless networks and free public Wi-Fi in Berlin and secure them for the long term. The party regards digital infrastructure as an essential public service that should not be left to commercial providers.

The Left wants more open wireless networks in Berlin. The city's free Wi-Fi should get better and stay. The party says internet technology is a basic public service. Companies should not run it alone.

The Left wants public services to remain accessible without digital tools. Digital government services should be accessible and reliable, and more easy-to-use internet access points should be created in public spaces.

No one should have to use the internet to reach a public office. There should still be ways without a computer. Government websites should work well for everyone. Libraries should help people with this. There should be more places with free Wi-Fi.

The Left wants to require large platforms such as Airbnb, Booking or Freenow to provide data access and transparency. In addition, a 20 million euro fund is to support public-interest platform projects, and the taxi trade is to become part of public transit.

The Left wants stricter rules for big online platforms like Airbnb. These companies should show the city their data. Berlin should give 20 million euros to other platforms. These should serve the public good. Taxis should become part of public transit.

The Left wants to measure and reduce the energy and resource use of digital technology. Ecological standards such as the Blue Angel label for software and data centers are to be mandatory in government purchasing, and repair services are to receive funding.

Computers and data centers use a lot of electricity. The Left wants to measure this use and make it public. The government should consider the environment when it buys technology. Devices should last longer. So the Left wants to fund repair shops and repair cafés.

The Left wants AI in government to be used only in transparent, controllable and labeled ways. It rejects AI for remote biometric identification and for expanding state surveillance, as well as state cyber counterattacks.

The Left wants clear rules for artificial intelligence, or AI. People should be able to tell when a text comes from AI. The state should not use AI to watch people. For example, it should not recognize faces from a distance. In public offices, people should always be able to talk to a real person.

The Left wants to digitalize the Berlin administration's internal processes and its services for residents more quickly. According to the platform, this would ease the workload of staff and reduce the effort required of residents.

The Left wants Berlin's offices to go digital faster. People should be able to do more online. This should save work. The 15 most-booked services come first.

The Left wants to prevent AI systems from perpetuating or worsening discrimination. Anyone affected by an automated decision should be able to have it reviewed by a human and to object to it.

Computer programs with artificial intelligence sometimes make decisions about people. The Left wants to make sure nobody is treated unfairly. People should be able to ask for a human to check the decision. They should also be able to object.

The Left wants to strengthen Berlin's Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. She is to be able to issue binding orders to public authorities and enforce them. She is also to receive more funding.

The Left wants to strengthen Berlin's data protection commissioner. She should be able to give orders to public offices. The offices then have to follow them. She should also get more money.

The SPD wants to speed up the fiber-optic rollout across Berlin and increase subsidies where companies do not build at their own expense. Berlin businesses are also to get more free advice on digitalization and more digital government services.

The SPD wants fast internet all over Berlin. For this, fiber-optic lines should be everywhere. Where companies do not build on their own, the state should help with money. Businesses should also get free advice on digital topics.

The SPD wants to make digital government services easy to use, for example with a Berlin app, while keeping in-person advice. The administration is to act on its own initiative rather than wait for applications. The state's IT is to be steered centrally and rely more on open software.

The SPD wants people to handle official matters easily online. There should be a Berlin app for this. People who need help can still get advice in person. Offices should reach out on their own, for example when an ID expires.