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1 | title: German constitutional court creates new fundamental right to digital privacy | ||
2 | date: 2008-02-27 00:00:00 | ||
3 | updated: 2009-04-18 19:12:41 | ||
4 | author: presse | ||
5 | tags: update, pressemitteilung | ||
6 | |||
7 | Today, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, flatly rejected North Rhine-Westphalia’s Constitutional Protection Act, which is designed to permit the so-called online search of computers and other IT systems. | ||
8 | |||
9 | <!-- TEASER_END --> | ||
10 | |||
11 | The Karlsruhe judges made it clear with their decision that the society | ||
12 | has a legitimate interest in the confidentiality and integrity of the IT | ||
13 | systems it increasingly depends on and that freedom of thought also | ||
14 | exists if ideas are stored on to a computer. The Chaos Computer Club | ||
15 | (CCC) has been demanding this right to digital privacy for over 25 | ||
16 | years. The protection of the digital self not only affects computers but | ||
17 | also telephones and other networked devices. “We can only hope that the | ||
18 | politicians who only know the internet from print-outs don't need | ||
19 | another quarter of a century until they have taken this new fundamental | ||
20 | right on board”, Dirk Engling, the CCC’s spokesman, commented. | ||
21 | |||
22 | The constitutional court judges point out in their oral reasons for the | ||
23 | judgement that the systematic tapping of communication data and the | ||
24 | creation of personality profiles are serious violations of basic rights. | ||
25 | “We assume that this judgement will also apply to the constitutional | ||
26 | review of the Data Retention Act”, Dirk Engling said. Several | ||
27 | constitutional complaints have been filed against the data retention | ||
28 | that came to effect in January. | ||
29 | |||
30 | “The judges have given the lawmakers a slap in the face for allowing all | ||
31 | kinds of information systems to be spied on, in contravention of basic | ||
32 | rights”, Dirk Engling continued. “Spying on hard disks will only be | ||
33 | possible within strictly defined limits. The Federal Constitutional | ||
34 | Court has provided humanity's virtual self with a digital protective | ||
35 | shield.” | ||
36 | |||
37 | Analysing the data seized will also have to be based on the criteria | ||
38 | relating to the new basic right. The investigation authorities’ | ||
39 | procedures when collecting evidence by digital means must now be | ||
40 | immediately put to the test. The searching of hard disks by private | ||
41 | companies, which has recently become commonplace, is therefore clearly | ||
42 | unconstitutional. The judges also determined that informational | ||
43 | self-protection through encryption is a right that may only be abrogated | ||
44 | under very strict conditions. | ||
45 | |||
46 | The Chaos Computer Club once again came to Karlsruhe for the delivery of | ||
47 | the judgement with the black, red and gold “Federal Trojan”, which is | ||
48 | the symbol of resistance against online searches. The Green Party, which | ||
49 | recently attracted negative attention by waving through former interior | ||
50 | minister Otto Schily’s “spying laws” and endorsing the ban on hacker | ||
51 | tools, tried to demonstrate their newly found love for digital civil | ||
52 | rights with a vigil in front of the court. This civil rights friendly | ||
53 | position will hopefully be maintained if the Greens get back into | ||
54 | government. | ||
55 | |||
56 | The lawyers will turn their attention to interpreting the judgement in | ||
57 | the next few weeks and draw the relevant conclusions. “Although the | ||
58 | Federal Trojan was positively slaughtered, important other decisions on | ||
59 | basic rights are imminent. However, we don't expect Wolfgang Schäuble | ||
60 | (the Federal Interior Minister) or Dieter Wiefelspütz (the German Social | ||
61 | Democratic Party’s expert on domestic policy) to suddenly take our | ||
62 | constitution seriously. The new basic right will only come to life if it | ||
63 | is aggressively defended and exercised.” | ||