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.

German Government Unveils End-To-End Encryption For Citizens

A service of the German government that is used for the exchange of confidential documents between citizens and government will soon support end-to-end encryption. As of April, users of the Mail- use end-to-end encryption. For this, they install a plug-in for Firefox or Google Chrome. The encryption used De-Mail based on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy).

The plug-in must make the encrypted exchange of documents easier, the German government so late in the announcement to know. "Germany wants to lead the way in the use of digital services," said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere."Encryption plays an important role." More and more government services to communicate using De-Mail. It is expected that this year 200 new public services are connected.

Encryption

De-Mail is already using encryption for transport, but will now post protect through end-to-end encryption, so that the content is only visible to the sender and recipient. To be of service to use, users with a username and password to log in, or for extra security with a token, such as the new digital ID card, smart card and SMS code. Logging is done by the special De-Mail page of the provider. Several German ISPs, such as Deutsche Telekom, GMX, Web.De and United Internet are as De-Mail provider accredited.

They are also pleased with the new security measure. "End-to-end encryption was previously something for experts. Therefore we would like to see everybody De-Mails can encrypt" said Timothy Höttges of Deutsche Telekom. Besides the introduction of encryption measure will also be simplified the registration process for De-Mail. So soon enough an online bank account to register for De-Mail. Meanwhile, two million Germans would have a De-Mail, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians have been identified for the service and act can make.