Fergie's Tech Blog

German Court Decision Re-ignites Online Surveillance Debate

Scott M. Fulton III writes on BetaNews:

A decision Monday by the German Federal High Court (BGH) in Karlsruhe renders it illegal in that country –- for now -– for police and intelligence services to use clandestine tools such as Trojan horse routines, or what would normally be categorized as malware, for use in surveillance on federal suspects.

But the high court ruling did not set a legal precedent, which means that it didn’t actually find a new way for existing law to be interpreted to permanently prohibit the use of remote computer exploits for surveillance purposes.

As a result, it may now be up to the German parliament and the country’s Interior Minister - Wolfgang Schäuble, champion of the country’s new ruling, conservative Christian Democratic Union - to create new legal precedent for a new and separate class of police searches where clandestine logging of suspects’ activities is permitted.

posted by Fergie @ 2/07/2007 02:30:00 PM