German court curbs data storage law in blow to govt

Source: Reuters

KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's top court curtailed a law on Wednesday requiring telecom firms to store phone and Internet data for six months, dealing a new blow to the government's efforts to beef up anti-terrorism measures.

Opposition politicians, civil liberties campaigners and many citizens had opposed the law, a divisive issue in a country haunted by memories of domestic spying by Hitler's Gestapo and communist East Germany's Stasi secret police.

A reaction to bomb attacks in Madrid and London in the last few years, the law obliges telecom firms to keep a record of who contacted whom, and the time and location of calls.

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled data may be stored, but details may only be transferred to investigators in the event of inquiries into serious crime.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/wl_nm/security_germany_court_dc

:-)

Bet they're longing for the good old days when the Germans were more compliant with their fascist leaders.