Germany Argues Obligation To Retain Telecommunications Data Back In

After a period of five years, telecom providers in Germany again required to save the behavioral data of their subscribers. The German parliament voted by a large majority for the introduction of a new data retention, reports the German newspaper Der Spiegel today.

In 2010 the German Constitutional Court annulled the data retention unconstitutional. All retained telecommunications data should be destroyed and the law had to be rewritten. The new obligation to retain telecommunications data providers should keep the telephone and Internet subscriber data for a period of ten weeks. This concerns, for example who is calling whom and when. E-mails are excluded from the provision.

For location information of mobile phone calls subject to a retention period of four weeks. The behavioral data storage would be needed to combat terrorism and serious crime. Heiko Maas, the German Minister of Justice, will be met by the reduced storage of data and strict admission requirements to the concerns of the Court.