Tuesday, March 2, 2010

German Data Retention Law Ruled Unconstitutional

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/03/02/1254212/German-Data-Retention-Law-Ruled-Unconstitutional?art_pos=15

"The German Federal Constitutional Court has ruled the country's current data retention law unconstitutional. All stored telephone and email communication data, previously kept for six months in case it was needed by law enforcement, now must be deleted as soon as possible. The court criticized the lack of data security and insufficient restrictions for access to the data. The president of the court said continuing to retain the data would 'cause a diffusely threatening feeling of being under observation that can diminish an unprejudiced perception of one's basic rights in many areas.' While it doesn't disallow data retention in general, the imposed restriction demands a complete reworking of the law." An anonymous reader contributes the Court's press release and more information on the ruling, both in German.

It seems that just about every country has both great reasonable policies and horrible inspired by fear policies.  Just about any area you can think up has at least one nation that did it right, and one that does it wrong.  The problem is no country does everything right. 

No comments:

Post a Comment