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+title: German constitutional court creates new fundamental right to digital privacy
+date: 2008-02-27 00:00:00 
+updated: 2009-04-18 19:12:41 
+author: presse
+tags: update, pressemitteilung
+
+Today, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, flatly rejected North Rhine-Westphalia’s Constitutional Protection Act, which is designed to permit the so-called online search of computers and other IT systems.
+
+<!-- TEASER_END -->
+
+The Karlsruhe judges made it clear with their decision that the society
+has a legitimate interest in the confidentiality and integrity of the IT
+systems it increasingly depends on and that freedom of thought also
+exists if ideas are stored on to a computer. The Chaos Computer Club
+(CCC) has been demanding this right to digital privacy for over 25
+years. The protection of the digital self not only affects computers but
+also telephones and other networked devices. “We can only hope that the
+politicians who only know the internet from print-outs don't need
+another quarter of a century until they have taken this new fundamental
+right on board”, Dirk Engling, the CCC’s spokesman, commented.
+
+The constitutional court judges point out in their oral reasons for the
+judgement that the systematic tapping of communication data and the
+creation of personality profiles are serious violations of basic rights.
+“We assume that this judgement will also apply to the constitutional
+review of the Data Retention Act”, Dirk Engling said. Several
+constitutional complaints have been filed against the data retention
+that came to effect in January.
+
+“The judges have given the lawmakers a slap in the face for allowing all
+kinds of information systems to be spied on, in contravention of basic
+rights”, Dirk Engling continued. “Spying on hard disks will only be
+possible within strictly defined limits. The Federal Constitutional
+Court has provided humanity's virtual self with a digital protective
+shield.”
+
+Analysing the data seized will also have to be based on the criteria
+relating to the new basic right. The investigation authorities’
+procedures when collecting evidence by digital means must now be
+immediately put to the test. The searching of hard disks by private
+companies, which has recently become commonplace, is therefore clearly
+unconstitutional. The judges also determined that informational
+self-protection through encryption is a right that may only be abrogated
+under very strict conditions.
+
+The Chaos Computer Club once again came to Karlsruhe for the delivery of
+the judgement with the black, red and gold “Federal Trojan”, which is
+the symbol of resistance against online searches. The Green Party, which
+recently attracted negative attention by waving through former interior
+minister Otto Schily’s “spying laws” and endorsing the ban on hacker
+tools, tried to demonstrate their newly found love for digital civil
+rights with a vigil in front of the court. This civil rights friendly
+position will hopefully be maintained if the Greens get back into
+government.
+
+The lawyers will turn their attention to interpreting the judgement in
+the next few weeks and draw the relevant conclusions. “Although the
+Federal Trojan was positively slaughtered, important other decisions on
+basic rights are imminent. However, we don't expect Wolfgang Schäuble
+(the Federal Interior Minister) or Dieter Wiefelspütz (the German Social
+Democratic Party’s expert on domestic policy) to suddenly take our
+constitution seriously. The new basic right will only come to life if it
+is aggressively defended and exercised.”