Security News > 2020 > July > Germany's Top Court Reins in State Access to Online Data
2020-07-20 08:12
Germany's highest court on Friday said security services had too much unfettered access to people's online data and ordered legislation to be revised to set higher hurdles.
The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe agreed with complaints brought by privacy activists that the access to data was excessive and an unconstitutional violation of citizens' right to telecoms privacy.
In their ruling, judges said the current powers to retrieve data were "Disproportionate".
"It cannot be permissible to indiscriminately request information on data," they said.
Judges said they agreed that intelligence bodies sometimes needed to pull personal data from smartphones or other devices to maintain public security.