Data retention law - Vorratsdatenspeicherung - Slap in the face for government

Today, the German constitutional court issued an intermediate decision regarding the new data retention law. The law forces telcos and ISPs to store any connection data for six months and to make it available to law enforcement organisations (police, prosecutors) upon request. The court has ruled that this data only needs to be made available in the case of capital crimes. The final decision is expected to be taken later this year.

Some time ago, the German Minister of Justice commissioned an investigation regarding the legal aspects of the planned data retention law. Obviously, the result was not the desired one and the publication has been slowed for quite some time, while requests regarding the publication of an intermediate version have been refused by the ministry.

It is astonishing, how frequently the "law and order" politicians in the German government are slapped by the constitutional court. Last week, the court prohibited the automated scanning of cars' license plates, this week the next slap in the face.

Addition (March 21, 2008): One of the best commentaries on the topic I found, in the paper "Die Zeit".