6G could transform the mobile network into a sensor system capable of tracking movements in real time, while JRC-Europol experts call for regulations before the standards are finalized

The next generation of mobile communications is expected to combine telecommunications connections with artificial intelligence, satellites, and radar-like sensing functions. A JRC–Europol report estimates that 6G could be deployed on a large scale around 2030–2031 and warns that the same functions that can help police detect movement patterns or manage emergency situations may enable tracking, profiling, and new forms of cyberattack.

6G networks could eventually do more than transport calls and data between phones. The infrastructure of the next generation of mobile communications is designed to include radar-like sensing functions, artificial intelligence, and satellite connectivity, which could allow the network to observe changes in the surrounding environment and identify movement patterns in real time. A JRC–Europol report sees new tools here for security and investigations, but warns that the same capabilities can facilitate extensive population monitoring, profiling, and attacks on AI-controlled infrastructures.

In brief

1. The report estimates large-scale 6G deployment around 2030–2031, following the standardization stage that is expected to advance through 2028.

2. 6G is designed to combine mobile networks with AI, low-Earth-orbit satellites, high-altitude drones, and sensing functions integrated directly into the infrastructure.

3. For authorities, these capabilities could provide real-time information about movement patterns, anomalies, emergency situations, and crowd management.

4. The same infrastructure can create risks of large-scale tracking and profiling, new cyber vulnerabilities, and difficulties concerning access to and the location of digital evidence.

5. Experts consulted by the JRC and Europol believe that rules on security, data protection, and infrastructure control must be discussed while 6G standards are still being developed.

6G is still in the applied research phase, and many of its components have not reached commercial maturity. The JRC–Europol report places full deployment around 2030–2031 and treats the technology as a broader change than the transition from 4G to 5G. The network is expected to combine traditional communications with sensing, AI-driven automated management, and direct connections to space infrastructure.

One of the important changes is the three-dimensional structure of the network. In addition to terrestrial antennas and infrastructure, 6G may integrate low-Earth-orbit satellites, high-altitude drones, and intelligent surfaces capable of controlling how electromagnetic signals are reflected. Ordinary phones could communicate more directly with satellites, extending coverage in areas where conventional networks are difficult to install.

The function raising the most questions for security and privacy is network-integrated sensing. Telecommunications infrastructure could acquire radar-like capabilities and detect elements of the physical environment, rather than being limited to transporting a connection from one device to another.

For cities, such functions can be used in traffic management, smart infrastructure, and emergency response. For law enforcement authorities, the report sees the possibility of identifying movement patterns, anomalies, and changes in a situation in real time, providing a richer operational picture than the data available through current mobile networks.

Managing crowds or an area during an incident is one of the examples analyzed. The infrastructure could provide information about the dynamics of an area and help authorities quickly observe unusual changes, without relying exclusively on cameras, patrols, or other separate systems.

However, this capability makes a much clearer distinction between network operation and surveillance necessary. Infrastructure capable of continuously observing the environment can produce information about people who are not suspected of any crime, and using data to identify movements or behavior can transform a technical function into a tracking tool.

The report warns that 6G sensing can create risks of profiling and large-scale surveillance, especially in an environment where every connected object generates data. Privacy protection must therefore be taken into account in the design of the network, rather than added after the infrastructure and standards have already been established.

AI will play a central role in the operation of 6G. The network is expected to use automated systems for traffic distribution, resource management, security, and real-time adaptation to usage conditions. This automation can increase speed and efficiency, but it also creates a new category of vulnerabilities.

An attacker who succeeds in manipulating an AI system used by the network could attempt to redirect traffic, affect security protocols, or cause outages. In scenarios where 6G is connected to transport, energy, or other critical infrastructures, the effects of such manipulation may extend beyond the telecommunications sector and produce cascading disruptions.

Distributing data across multiple levels of the network also complicates investigators’ work. Information may continuously move between the device, edge computing, the cloud, telecommunications infrastructure, and satellites, while determining where a particular piece of evidence is located and which jurisdiction applies may become more difficult than in current architectures.

Lawful interception will have to be adapted to this mobility. In a network dynamically managed by AI, authorities may face additional difficulties in determining where a legal request must be sent, who effectively controls the data at that moment, and how the integrity of the information obtained can be verified.

The issue of the explainability of automated systems also arises. If AI decides how traffic was routed, a connection was prioritized, or a sensing function was activated, these decisions may become relevant in a case. An investigator or court must be able to reconstruct clearly enough what the system did and why.

The report also addresses the relationship between 6G and European technological autonomy. The cloud and AI models supporting the network are increasingly viewed as strategic infrastructures, and dependence on a small number of providers may become a resilience and security issue.

One of the ideas analyzed is the use of multiple cloud providers to avoid a single point of vulnerability. Infrastructure in which essential functions depend on a single operator may be more exposed to a failure, attack, or geopolitical disruption, while redundancy can limit the effects of such an incident.

The report also discusses the possibility of cloud infrastructure placed closer to European control, but these ideas are points for reflection from the foresight exercise and do not represent requirements already adopted for future 6G networks.

The standardization timeline explains why the authors call for an early discussion. A large part of the future infrastructure’s features will depend on the technical standards established before commercial launch. If issues of data protection, lawful access, security, and transparency are analyzed only after the networks have been built, the possibility of modifying the technical architecture may be much more limited.

One of the experts interviewed expresses this urgency through the idea that the time for action is now, while the standards are still being discussed by industry. The report considers that policymakers must accept a certain degree of uncertainty and establish principles for 6G development early, instead of waiting for the definitive technological picture.

This approach also requires collaboration between the telecommunications industry, researchers, law enforcement authorities, and institutions that protect fundamental rights. The functions integrated into 6G can produce significant benefits for connectivity and security, but the way they are configured will also determine the amount of information available about people and their environment.

For European police forces, 6G thus appears as infrastructure that can simultaneously create new sources of information and new difficulties. Sensing and AI can improve understanding of a situation in real time, while the distributed nature of the network, encryption, and automation can make locating and verifying evidence more complex.

The JRC and Europol do not present these scenarios as functions already available in European networks. 6G is still under development, and its final configuration will depend on research, standards, investments, and public policy choices made in the coming years.

The joint JRC–Europol report includes 6G in its analysis of technologies that may change the work of law enforcement authorities over the longer term. The emphasis is on the combination of telecommunications, sensing, artificial intelligence, and space infrastructure, rather than simply increasing the speed of mobile connections.

The authors consider the standardization period decisive for introducing security and data-protection requirements. The recommendations are foresight points for policymakers and industry, and the final form of 6G networks and the applicable rules have not yet been established.

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