Berlin just gave police the power to install spyware in private homes

Berlin's parliament has passed a major ASOG police law amendment that lets investigators install state spyware ("Staatstrojaner"), and if remote access fails - secretly enter suspects homes to access devices. It also expands video/Al surveillance powers and allows activation of cameras in private spaces in certain scenarios.

In short:

Secret physical entry to install malware or access devices is now explicitly authorised in the law.

The package increases video surveillance and authorises Al based analysis (face/voice recognition, longer retention).

https://www.heise.de/news/Berlin-Polizei-darf-Wohnungen-zur-Staatstrojaner-Installation-heimlich-betreten-11103253.html

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This was a thing in Australia at least 20 years ago.

There was an episode about a drug importer who left his computer on 24/7. To get evidence, the police needed to offline copy the drive using approved forensic hardware so they wouldn't mess with the metadata. But if his computer was rebooted from doing so, the criminal would be suspicious. So what did they do?

Turned off power the the entire street for 10 minutes so if he asked the neighbours, they would confirm that there was a "genuine" power outage.