Germany turfs out law on data
Source: Agencies |
March 3, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GERMANY'S highest court yesterday overturned a law allowing authorities to retain data on phone calls and e-mail traffic for help in tracking criminals.
A law ordering data on calls and e-mail exchanges be retained for six months for possible use by criminal authorities violated constitutional rights to private correspondence and must be revised, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled.
The court said the law failed to sufficiently balance the need for personal privacy against that for providing security, although it did not rule out data retention in principle.
Nearly 35,000 Germans appealed to the court to overturn the law.
The legislation stems from a 2006 European Union anti-terrorism directive requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone data and Internet logs for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for criminal investigations.
The court upheld the EU directive, saying the problem lay instead with how the German parliament interpreted it.
Under the German law, which came into effect in January, 2008, data about all calls from mobile or land-line phones was retained for six months, including who called who, from where and for how long. E-mails were included later.
A law ordering data on calls and e-mail exchanges be retained for six months for possible use by criminal authorities violated constitutional rights to private correspondence and must be revised, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled.
The court said the law failed to sufficiently balance the need for personal privacy against that for providing security, although it did not rule out data retention in principle.
Nearly 35,000 Germans appealed to the court to overturn the law.
The legislation stems from a 2006 European Union anti-terrorism directive requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone data and Internet logs for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for criminal investigations.
The court upheld the EU directive, saying the problem lay instead with how the German parliament interpreted it.
Under the German law, which came into effect in January, 2008, data about all calls from mobile or land-line phones was retained for six months, including who called who, from where and for how long. E-mails were included later.
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