According to information from the Handelsblatt, the views of the traffic light negotiators about the use of so-called data retention were sometimes far apart. The investigative tool allows police and law enforcement authorities to access connection data for Internet and telephone communications that private providers have to keep in reserve for this purpose.
While the FDP and the Greens classify the search method as disproportionate and unconstitutional, the Social Democrats do not want to give up data retention, especially with a view to the fight against child abuse. Now the main traffic light negotiating group has to find a compromise on how to deal with the massive storage of communication data.
The regulation in Germany is currently on hold until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled on the German approach. The procedure there is in the final phase. The final opinion of the Advocate General is expected this Thursday, and a judgment is expected in a few months. Data protectionists and the Association of the Internet Industry (Eco) are calling on the SPD, FDP and the Greens to send a political signal against surveillance on a large scale.
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“Behind every data retention there is a disproportionate monitoring approach: The security authorities gain access to the communication data of all innocent citizens in order to possibly investigate crimes that have not yet been committed,” said the data protection officer in Baden-Württemberg, Stefan Brink, the Handelsblatt. The ECJ has already made it clear several times that such surveillance measures are unacceptable, but a security lobby continues to adhere to them without even being able to prove their effectiveness. “In short: an outdated concept, please delete.”
“Inadmissible interference with fundamental rights”
The Eco-CEO Oliver Süme also called on the SPD, FDP and Greens to finally turn away from data retention. The traffic light parties now have the chance to set an example and to stand up for the rights of citizens. “The inadmissible encroachment on fundamental rights must finally be stopped,” said Süme to the Handelsblatt.
“The new federal government must abolish the unreasonable and comprehensive data retention and urgently research alternative methods of investigation.” This not only strengthens trust in digital communication, but also ensures the urgently needed legal and planning security of companies.
The background to the proceedings currently pending before the ECJ is a legal dispute between the Federal Network Agency and Telekom and the Internet provider SpaceNet, which was previously negotiated at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, but was not decided. The companies are resisting a requirement to store certain data about customers for access by the authorities. On behalf of the Federal Administrative Court, the ECJ judges are now supposed to answer the question of whether the German regulation is compatible with European fundamental rights.
For years there has been a dispute on the subject in several EU countries between security authorities and politicians as well as civil rights activists and consumer advocates. For SpaceNet, data retention also has an economic dimension. According to its own information, the Munich company only receives a small number of inquiries per year from the authorities. The costs of maintaining the data would not be in proportion.
Agreement at the state Trojan
This is also pointed out by the Internet association Eco, which is supporting SpaceNet in the lawsuit. The data retention is “an encroachment on fundamental rights of very high quantitative and qualitative intensity, has no proven added value for law enforcement and costs the industry an estimated 600 million euros, which we can invest better,” said Eco CEO Süme.
The IT association Bitkom is hoping for clear guidelines from the ECJ in order to create legal certainty. “Wherever criminal offenses are increasingly being prepared with digital instruments or committed in the digital world, this area must be expressly included,” said Association President Achim Berg to the Handelsblatt. “However, extended monitoring powers must not lead to the security and integrity of communication being weakened and the trust of consumers and companies being destroyed.”
On other controversial issues, such as the constitutional protection’s ability to access messenger messages via so-called state Trojans, the traffic light parties are said to have reached an agreement, as the Handelsblatt learned from negotiating circles. State powers to intervene should therefore, as requested by the Federal Constitutional Court, be generally reviewed.
Süme thinks this is the right way to go. “I consider a legally regulated vulnerability management to be absolutely necessary,” he said, referring to the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court. According to Süme, all applied laws on the use of state Trojans must “in future contain conditions as to when software vulnerabilities may be used and when the dangers for society, the economy and the state itself outweigh”.
Bitkom President Berg emphasized that the security and trustworthiness of telecommunications networks and services are a great asset and should not be undermined. He therefore advocates “a broad social dialogue involving all relevant actors in order to reconcile encryption and trustworthy digital communication with the interests of law enforcement from an ethical and legal point of view”.
In their exploratory paper, the SPD, FDP and the Greens had already agreed to work with the federal states on a “holistic view of the state’s powers to intervene” and to carry out a “general revision of the security architecture”. The paper leaves open what this means in detail.
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