security
FDP: “bury” data retention without cause
The European Court of Justice has set strict limits on the storage of telecommunications data to investigate criminal offenses in Germany. photo
© Matthias Balk/dpa
An EU ruling allows data retention to fight crime, but politicians are arguing about implementation. The FDP criticizes the project and refers to an important document.
Despite repeated demands from interior and justice ministers, the FDP continues to reject the retention of IP addresses to fight serious crimes. “The mass storage of the communication data of millions of citizens is not compatible with the liberal character of our constitutional order. The coalition agreement is also crystal clear: there must be no complete monitoring of communication relationships, not even with a view to the IP address,” said the deputy -Chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Konstantin Kuhle, in Berlin.
The interior and justice ministers of the federal and state governments should therefore “bury” the unreasonable data retention at their meeting in Munich, emphasized Kuhle. Because of her corona infection, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) will not be in Munich, she will be represented by a State Secretary. At 3.30 p.m. the interior and justice ministers want to report on the results of their deliberations at a press conference.
That’s what other parties say
Even before the meeting, the chairmen of the conference of interior ministers, Joachim Herrmann, and the conference of justice ministers, Georg Eisenreich (both CSU), as well as politicians from other parties, had demanded that the authorities, for example in the fight against child abuse, have the maximum legally possible powers for the storage of telecommunications data require. As evidence of the high pressure to act, they referred, among other things, to the rapidly increasing number of child pornography cases.
Last week, the European Court of Justice set narrow limits on the storage of telecommunications data to investigate criminal offenses in Germany. The judges ruled that the currently suspended regulation in Germany is incompatible with EU law. However, they explained that it would be possible to retain IP addresses in order to combat serious crime.
implementation in practice
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), like the FDP, prefers the “quick freeze procedure”. In the event of suspicion, a judge must first order that certain data may be backed up. Bavaria rejects the procedure because it is not practical to solve crimes. For Kuhle, on the other hand, it is a good alternative that helps the investigators and at the same time protects fundamental rights. The “quick freeze procedure” must therefore be decided quickly, everything else is a security risk.
Other topics are how to deal with extremists in the public service and how to tackle abusive acknowledgments of paternity. These are cases in which those who are required to leave the country try to stay in Germany, stating that they have to look after an underage child here. “Unfortunately, the current procedure for preventing abusive acknowledgments of paternity does not work sufficiently,” Herrmann told the German Press Agency in Munich. The federal government is already examining the need for reform, and the reform must be “implemented as soon as possible”.
The regulations that came into force in July 2017 have not proven themselves in practice, said Herrmann. “According to this, the notarizing authorities such as notaries, youth welfare offices or registry offices would have to suspend the notarization and transmit the case to the responsible foreigners authority if there were concrete indications of abusive acknowledgment of paternity.” In practice, however, the notarizing bodies apparently had difficulties in determining facts from which indications of abuse could be derived. Therefore, the procedures would ultimately not be forwarded to the immigration authorities for review.