New regulation for investigations: cell phone data to be better protected

The German Federal Parliament passes a new law to better protect the data of cell phone and Internet users. Authorities can now only request information during investigations if there are "actual indications of a criminal act". The opposition has criticized the resolution.

Following a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, higher hurdles will apply in the future for government access to the personal data of cell phone and Internet users. The Bundestag passed a law that makes it more difficult for security authorities to retrieve so-called inventory data for law enforcement and counterterrorism purposes. At the same time, this also improves the already passed law against hate crime, which previously included similar regulations on data retrieval. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had halted the law last year due to constitutional concerns.

In addition to users' names and addresses, the so-called inventory data also includes passwords and bank details. Previously, such data queries were generally permitted for the prevention of danger, the prosecution of criminal offenses and misdemeanors, and the fulfillment of intelligence service tasks. However, the judges in Karlsruhe decided that this is now only permissible in the event of a concrete threat of danger, which is why the law had to be amended.

For example, the authorities are allowed to query who is hiding behind an IP address. The Federal Criminal Police Office, for example, is allowed to query user data "if there is a significant threat to public safety or if there are sufficient factual indications of a criminal act".

 The Federal Constitutional Court had repeatedly criticized the previous provisions on data disclosure, most recently declaring them to be unconstitutional in May of last year. The judges in Karlsruhe ruled that the laws violated the fundamental rights to informational self-determination and to telecommunications secrecy.

The new legislation was passed in the Bundestag with the votes of the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition factions. The four opposition factions voted against. The Green Party criticized the law's passage and expressed fears that the new regulation could once again fail before the Federal Constitutional Court. "Our serious constitutional concerns, which we already raised with the first law of the federal government, also persist with the so-called repair law," said parliamentary group vice chairman Konstantin von Notz.

He went on to criticize that the law was not compatible with current EU fundamental law. Thus, there is still an "extremely far-reaching transmission of user data up to passwords by private persons". The danger that the law will fail for the third time before the Constitutional Court is "unfortunately very real".