back to article Germany says Ja to data-slurp law 2.0

Germany's Bundestag has voted for a new version of the data retention law that caused so much controversy in the past, with the new regulations approved by 404 to 148 votes, with seven abstentions. The new law will force telcos to store call and email records for 10 weeks, as well as metadata including information about who …

  1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "must get a judge's consent"

    HMG please note.

    1. JassMan

      @Doctor Syntax

      Drat beat me to it. I think Theresa May could learn a thing or 2 from the germans.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: @Doctor Syntax

        Sorry about that but have an upvote for being a gentleman of great intelligence.

      2. Vic

        Re: @Doctor Syntax

        I think Theresa May could learn a thing or 2 from the germans.

        I think Theresa May could learn a thing or two from that small lump of green putty I found in my armpit...

        Vic.

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      "must get a judge's consent"

      If only there was somewhere a judge that was a pillar of the conservative establishment. Unlike all those Trotskyist anarchist libertarian judges that they use for public inquiries.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is going straight to Karlsruhe

    ... again. And again we will spend good tax money on the Constitutional Court kicking this law into the bin where it belongs. A great alternative to paying taxes for our own surveillance, I guess.

    I also think there should be prosecution of members of the Bundestag who vote yes on issues that are in clear violation of the Grundgesetz. Now that would be fun, wouldn't it?

    BTW, top 8pm news story just now: the 'effin soccer corruption from 2006. Because that's what Germans truly care about.

    1. Zane

      Re: This is going straight to Karlsruhe

      > I also think there should be prosecution of members of the Bundestag who vote yes on issues that are in clear violation of the Grundgesetz. Now that would be fun, wouldn't it?

      Agree. Shall we start a petition?

      /Zane

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: This is going straight to Karlsruhe

        > Agree. Shall we start a petition?

        I think we should get Campact on the case, they have plenty of reach *g*

  3. Mark 85

    "the individual in question must be notified."

    This is two-edged sword kind of thing. If I'm a terrorist, and I get notified that the government's snooping my data, I'm out of there or I launch my dastardly plot early. Are there "safeguards" to prevent this? As for the innocent, I'm on the side of them but there is the "notify and flee" scenario.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "the individual in question must be notified."

      You are supposed to be notified after the investigation ends. It it happens at all. I guess the investigation never really ends anymore, WOT and stuff.

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Mark 85 Re: "the individual in question must be notified."

      "....If I'm a terrorist....." Don't worry, all the data (not just metadata) will be stored by the telecoms, and we already know that the NSA and GCHQ have penetrated them to the eyeballs. Four weeks is plenty of time for the Five Eyes to sift through the daily data to find what they need. Any real investigation will be conducted and concluded (with the compliance of the BND) long before a request goes to a German judge to search for the evidence the NSA will have already provided for the BND. By the time Abdul The Bomber gets notified he's already been arrested. All this law does is give German politicians the additional legal means to investigate their own citizens without having to rely on the Five Eyes for everything.

      1. Mark 85

        Re: Mark 85 "the individual in question must be notified."

        Ah.... got it.. eyewash and mind bleach for the masses. And another tick box on why someone should vote to re-elect them. Sounds like it's from the US "How to get re-elected" manual.

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is one euro privacy law we can do without. As a sysadmin I can't be arsed to spy on everyone for governments. No German data centers for me, then.

  6. James 63
    Childcatcher

    Results?

    As an Australian now living under much the same regime, it'd be nice to see of what benefit these data slurping schemes are. Some sort of review that says we caught XX baddies, we incorrectly invaded the privacy of YY innocents, and it only cost you the tax payer ZZ billions. Guessing the results of that equation doesn't look very favourable, and hence gets kept fairly close to the chest's of those who push these schemes through...

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