Volt on digital affairs

Volt wants to consolidate oversight of the digital sphere, which the platform says is spread across more than 80 agencies, into three areas. This is meant to clarify responsibilities and give businesses fixed points of contact. The agencies in charge are to become more independent.

Today a great many agencies are in charge of the internet. Volt wants to change that. There should be only three areas: security online, market oversight, and data protection. The agencies should work independently. Companies then know whom to contact.

The three areas are cybersecurity, market surveillance, and data protection. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) would become as independent as the Federal Data Protection Commissioner. The BSI would no longer be part of the Interior Ministry, because according to the platform security agencies have an interest in exploitable security flaws. The Bundesnetzagentur would become the central body for the digital economy and take on, among other things, oversight under the Digital Services Act and the AI Regulation. The Data Protection Commissioner would additionally check whether digital investigative methods are used in line with the constitution.

Volt rejects the blanket use of surveillance technology and its automated analysis. Systems that biometrically identify people remotely in real time are to be banned. The platform justifies this with the protection of privacy and informational self-determination.

Volt does not want surveillance everywhere. Cameras should not be allowed to recognize people by their faces automatically. This should also apply at borders and in prisons. There should be clear limits on how the police use artificial intelligence. This is how Volt wants to protect privacy.

The ban on real-time remote biometric identification would also apply at borders and in prisons. For time-limited exceptions, for example in counterterrorism, the conditions and responsibilities are to be laid down openly. Volt wants to introduce legal limits on AI-supported surveillance in police investigations. An oversight body modeled on a British commissioner for biometrics and surveillance cameras would be set up at the Federal Data Protection Commissioner's office.

Volt wants security flaws in IT systems to be reported openly and fixed quickly. The so-called hacker paragraph is to be dropped so that security researchers need not fear prosecution. Volt rejects state backdoors in software.

Volt wants to close security gaps in computer systems quickly. There should be one central list for them. Researchers should be allowed to look for gaps without being punished. That is why the hacker paragraph should go. The state should not build secret entrances into programs.

A central register is meant to ensure that flaws are reported and fixed promptly and in a traceable way. The state and companies are to work together on this rather than block the disclosure of flaws. The hacker paragraph is a criminal provision that covers, among other things, handling programs used to spy on data. The platform rejects state backdoors, meaning built-in access for authorities, because of the danger of misuse.

Volt wants to give people more control over their data and protect them from manipulative practices online. At the same time, regulation should not hold back companies' capacity to innovate. In the platform's view, data protection should become a competitive advantage.

Some websites trick people. These tricks are called dark patterns. Volt wants clear laws for them. All of Europe should also have shared rules to protect consumers. Companies should get simple help to follow data protection rules.

Dark patterns are designs of websites and apps that steer users into decisions they did not intend. Clear legal rules are to apply to them and to influence exerted by algorithms. At the European level, Volt backs a Digital Fairness Act as a uniform legal framework for consumer protection. The BSI would give companies tools for complying with the General Data Protection Regulation and protecting critical infrastructure. As a model, the platform cites a central data protection register in Finland.

Volt wants to set up a new digital ministry that defines the IT strategy for all of Germany. It would steer the digitalization of public administration and cut duplicate structures. The platform expects this to produce more efficient and user-friendly public services.

Volt wants a separate ministry for digital matters. It should plan the computer technology of all agencies. The same rules and standards should apply everywhere. Agencies should have to share finished digital solutions with each other. This should make public administration faster and simpler.

The ministry would receive policy-setting authority over every level of administration, meaning it could issue binding requirements. It would merge administrative software and IT systems and set uniform standards for all of Germany so that procedures run fully digitally. The existing platform through which public bodies exchange digital solutions would become mandatory to use. Volt justifies this with the economical use of public resources.

Volt wants public authorities to offer their services digitally, on mobile devices, and as far as possible proactively. People should have to submit their data only once. The platform points to Estonia as a model.

Volt wants government offices to go digital. People should be able to do many things on their phone. Offices should give some services on their own. People should give their data only once. Everyone should be able to use the services.

The platform calls for fewer requirements to submit things in writing and for a practical approach to data protection rules. Services would be offered proactively and automatically, with electronic identification and online payment, which the platform calls a "no-stop shop." Under the "once-only principle," people submit their data once and agencies reuse it while protecting privacy. Open data would be promoted. Digital services would be accessible, with multiple languages, sign language, and standardized navigation. Estonia is cited as an example because 99 percent of its government services are said to be available online.

Volt wants to promote the development and use of artificial intelligence in business and research. The platform expects this to bring more competitiveness, new jobs, and technological sovereignty.

Volt wants to support artificial intelligence. The short word for it is AI. Companies should be able to test AI safely. There should be more money and more large data centers. People should be able to train for new jobs with AI.

The EU's AI Act would be implemented in a way that gives legal certainty and does not slow innovation. Test environments (regulatory sandboxes) would be adequately funded and easy to access, including across borders. Grants and venture capital for AI projects would be easier to obtain, and retraining and continuing education would prepare people for new occupations. For research, the plan includes more high-performance data centers in the EU, common data spaces, and support for open-source projects. Energy-efficient data centers and climate-efficient AI would receive incentives.

Volt wants to limit AI risks such as discrimination, data misuse, and disinformation through a uniform legal framework. Private individuals should decide for themselves whether their data is used for AI.

Volt wants clear rules for artificial intelligence. Each person should decide whether AI uses their data. The EU's laws should be applied strictly. They should protect people from unfair treatment and false information.

Private individuals would be able to choose whether their data goes into AI applications. Privacy-friendly models such as common data spaces are meant to combine innovation and security. The General Data Protection Regulation, the AI Act, and the EU's Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act would be applied consistently. According to the platform, a uniform framework strengthens trust.

Volt wants to speed up the rollout of fiber and 5G across the country and set binding minimum speeds for internet connections by 2030. The platform calls access to fast, affordable internet a basic right and wants to support rural regions in particular.

Volt wants fast internet for everyone in Germany. More fiber cables should be built for this. By 2030, every connection should have a minimum speed. Villages and small towns should get money from the government for this.

For the fiber rollout, permits would be simplified, red tape reduced, and coordination between federal, state and local governments improved. Rural regions would receive targeted subsidies. By 2030, households and businesses would be entitled to at least 100 Mbit/s download and 50 Mbit/s upload. Providers would share infrastructure more. In the 5G rollout, European providers would get preference to avoid dependencies; the platform cites Finland's flexible spectrum allocation as an example of fast deployment.

Volt wants to make Germany and Europe more independent in digital technologies, for example by supporting semiconductor production, European cloud infrastructure and open source in public administration. Cities would be planned more sustainably using sensor data and open systems.

Volt wants Europe to depend less on others for digital technology. The government should support companies that make computer chips. There should be European cloud services. Public offices should use open-source software. That is software whose code anyone can look at.

Domestic semiconductor manufacturers would be given economic incentives to build more production capacity. European cloud projects such as IPCEI-CIS would receive more state support, as would research and development. Public administration and institutions would use open technologies and standards. In cities, widespread sensors would supply anonymized data for sustainable urban development, with open systems promoting transparency and participation.

Volt wants to write the promotion of digital skills into law and embed it in schools, vocational training and further training through a nationwide framework. Libraries and community centers would become learning centers with digital and analog offerings. In the platform's view, no one should be disadvantaged for lacking digital knowledge.

Volt wants everyone to be able to use digital technology. A law should make this a task of education. There should be one shared plan for all of Germany. Libraries and community centers should become places to learn. They offer courses and help.

A federal competence center for digital affairs would draw up the uniform framework for curricula, vocational training, further training and retraining. Together with research institutions and skilled professionals, the needs of the working world would be assessed, and qualification programs would build on that. Small and medium-sized businesses and public administrations would get help with the digital transition, partly to attract skilled workers. The learning centers would offer supervised training and information on courses and digital certificates. Subsidized training would improve workers' career prospects.