Germany's highest court has restricted the right of the country's security services to spy on the computers of suspected criminals. The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said cyber spying violated individuals' right to privacy and could be used only in exceptional cases. The ruling came down on security officials who use virus-like software to monitor suspected terrorists' online activity.
The German government has described cyber spying as a vital tool in fighting terrorism. But the court's president Hans-Juergen Papier said that using software to spy on Internet users contravened rights enshrined in Germany's constitution. "The fear of being observed ... can prevent unselfconscious personal communication," he said. The ruling emphasized that cyber spying would have to receive the permission of a judge.
The ruling directly addressed a law in the western German state of Rhine Westhphalia that permitted authorities to monitor criminal suspects' use of personal computer. It also set out the ground rules for a hotly disputed federal law governing secret services' ability to use virus-like software to monitor suspected terrorists' online activity. "Given the gravity of the intrusion, the secret infiltration of an it system ... can only be constitutionally allowed if clear evidence of a concrete threat ... exists," Papier said.
Judicial approval is required in Germany for a suspect's telephone to be tapped, and Germany's interior ministry had been expecting the court to make a similar requirement for spying on computers. The court's decision will be carefully analysed and we will change the country's cyber laws," Germany's interior minister Wolfgang Schauble said.
German it industry also welcomed the decision. Bernhard Rohleder, head of the German it association said the federal court's ruling laid the groundwork for "more democratic cyber laws". "Now we have a basis for future debates on security and information technology," Rohleder said.
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