it lobby accuses german gov of hypocrisy

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,681058,00.html

03/01/2010

Attack on Google And Co.

German Minister Warns Against the Power of Internet Giants

German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner has launched an attack on the Internet economy, warning that the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple store vast amounts of personal information on Web users that can be used for financial gain, and can hurt people's chances of getting jobs or bank loans.

German Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner warned in an interview published on Monday that Internet giants like Google and Microsoft hold extensive amounts of personal data on Web users and said the firms should reveal what they know about people.

Speaking ahead of the opening of Germany's annual CeBIT, the Hanover-based digital industry trade fair starting on Tuesday, Aigner said some IT companies had built up gigantic databases on their customers and that nobody knew how they were using the wealth of names, addresses and pictures at their disposal.

"Sector giants like Facebook, Apple, Google or Microsoft can compile entire personal profiles in the Internet," Aigner told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. "They know what we're interested in, what we buy, where we travel to and who we're friends with. Some consumers become really interesting for businesses as a result, while others may end up blacklisted and have problems finding work."

"Consumers should be given control over their personal data," said Aigner, who as consumer affairs minister is part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet. "Companies must give all users insight into which personal data is stored and what happens to it. It must be possible to have private data deleted if desired."

Aigner welcomed a suggestion by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere that firms should start telling people every year what personal information they have stored about them. "Such a voluntary commitment by companies could be a solution. At the moment it's hard for consumers to find out who knows what about them," said Aigner.

'Even George Orwell Wouldn't Have Dreamt of That'

She denied being hostile to Internet firms. "But everything has its limits. Some inventions such as face recognition software for mobile phone cameras to identify people on the street send cold shivers down my back. Even George Orwell wouldn't' have dreamt of that."

Aigner's comments follow a warning from Chancellor Merkel in her weekly podcast on Saturday that the government needed to tackle the risks of using the Internet. "That doesn't mean that we want to curb the freedom of the Internet unnecessarily, but it does mean that people must have a guarantee of comprehensive legal protection," said Merkel. For example, the government would continue to ensure that child porn Web sites could be shut down, she said.

Referring to the controversy surrounding the inclusion of German streets in Google's Street View, Merkel said: "Those who think this interferes with their privacy can lodge their objection." The Consumer Protection Ministry had prepared a template letter for that purpose on its Web site, said Merkel.

IT Industry Criticizes Government

The president of German IT industry association Bitkom, August-Wilhelm Scheer, criticized the government's Internet policy and accused it of hypocrisy.

In an interview with SPIEGEL, he said the government was illuminating the private lives of its citizens by requiring mobile phone companies to retain data on phone calls and Internet traffic, and by permitting police to conduct computer surveillance.

"At the same time the consumer protection minister is bashing Google because it's apparently infringing on privacy. That doesn't fit together," Scheer said.

He said it was time the governments came up with a coordinated approach to the Internet rather letting various ministries launch their own initiatives.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aqf7.eGh9KdY

Germany’s Top Court Overturns Anti-Terrorism Data Law

By Patrick Donahue

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Germany’s highest court overturned a two-year-old anti-terrorism law that requires telecommunications providers such as Deutsche Telekom AG to store Internet and phone data for six months, saying the rules violate privacy.

The law, which came into effect in December 2007 during Chancellor Angela Merkel’s previous government, calls for phone companies to collect data on phone calls, Internet surfing and text messaging for potential use in criminal or terrorist investigations.

The Federal Constitutional Court found that while the storing of communications data isn’t automatically unconstitutional, the law doesn’t sufficiently clarify what the information will be used for or provide for transparency.

The data “must be deleted immediately,” Hans-Juergen Papier, the court’s president, said today as he read out the decision in the western city of Karlsruhe.

Merkel’s government passed the law as part of its efforts to fight crime and terrorism, implementing a European Union directive adopted after the March 2004 bomb attack on Spanish trains that killed 191 people. While prosecutors had access to the data, the law provided limits against storing conversation details or identifying specific Web sites.

Privacy advocates challenged the legislation soon after it came into effect. Some 35,000 complaints were filed to the court, the most in its history, Deutsche Presse-Agentur said.

Strictest Standards

“This blanket data saving must conform to the very strictest constitutional standards in order to be effective,” Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told reporters in Berlin. “This is a day to be very happy.”

The court said collected information can only be made available through a court warrant. Investigators also must be limited to use such data to pursue a proven “concrete danger” directed against a person or the security of the state. The data can also be used to prevent a “communal danger.”

The judges in Karlsruhe also said service providers should not be allowed to have “uncontrolled” discretion over how information is stored and secured.

Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the Free Democratic Party, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partner, declined to say when the government would begin drafting a new data-storage law.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net.