Automated communication and basic rights

Abstract

Nowadays communication does not necessarily originate from humans, but also from “machines” such as “social bots” or “things” in the Internet of Things. From a basic rights perspective, this phenomenon raises the question if such communication benefits from the same level of protection as communication created by human beings. With regard to the basic rights of the Grundgesetz, the Federal Constitutional Court for years has been excluding some forms of communication from the scope of protection as not needing or deserving protection. The ratio of these decisions must not be applied to cases of automated communication without noticing possible differences. Automated communication can mostly be linked to the human beings or legal entities applying it. Therefore, its prohibition or regulation is a matter of proportionality of infringements with fundamental rights.