Mar 20, 2008 : Court Restricts Data Storage Law
📅 - To the relief of opposition politicians and civil liberties campaigners, Germany's top court restricted a law on Wednesday proposed by the German government that would require telecom providers to store phone and Internet data for six months.
The law, which was created after the bomb attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London, UK in 2005, has been part of the German government's ongoing efforts to boost its anti-terrorism measures and obliges telecom firms to keep a record of who contacted whom at what time and from which location.
The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that data could continue to be stored by the telecom providers, but details could only be handed over to authorities during the investigation of serious crimes.
The decision was the latest in a series of rulings against tighter security measures introduced by Chancellor Angela Merkel and previous governments, drawing praise from civil liberty campaigners who have been calling for greater data protection and privacy rights for its citizens.
In 2004, the federal court ordered the government to tighten rules for bugging homes and in 2006 judges set strict limits on when the police could lawfully use electronic databases to search for possible terrorists, something they had previously been able to do at random and with no real threat or cause.
In the same year, the court also rejected a law that would allow the shooting down of hijacked planes, a proposal that had been set forth by the government as a way to prevent mass casualties in a potential September 11-style attack.
The law, which was created after the bomb attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London, UK in 2005, has been part of the German government's ongoing efforts to boost its anti-terrorism measures and obliges telecom firms to keep a record of who contacted whom at what time and from which location.
The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that data could continue to be stored by the telecom providers, but details could only be handed over to authorities during the investigation of serious crimes.
The decision was the latest in a series of rulings against tighter security measures introduced by Chancellor Angela Merkel and previous governments, drawing praise from civil liberty campaigners who have been calling for greater data protection and privacy rights for its citizens.
In 2004, the federal court ordered the government to tighten rules for bugging homes and in 2006 judges set strict limits on when the police could lawfully use electronic databases to search for possible terrorists, something they had previously been able to do at random and with no real threat or cause.
In the same year, the court also rejected a law that would allow the shooting down of hijacked planes, a proposal that had been set forth by the government as a way to prevent mass casualties in a potential September 11-style attack.
Reads: 2033 | Category: General | Source: TheWHIR : Web Host Industry Reviews
URL source: http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/032008_Court_Restricts_Data_Storage_Law.cfm
Want to add a website news or press release ? Just do it, it's free! Use add web hosting news!
📅 - 
📅 - 
📅 -