The German Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that section 113 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG) and several ordinary federal laws are unconstitutional. This covers rules on telecom providers giving subscriber data to law enforcement officials. The court found the telecoms law violates certain rights to privacy enshrined in the constitution.
Telecom providers may be required under certain circumstances to hand over customer information as part of investigations by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), the Federal Police (Bundespolizei) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz). The procedure enables security authorities to obtain information from telecommunications companies on subscribers of telecommunications services or an IP address assigned at a certain point in time. The information may include personal customer data held by operator as part of the conclusion or delivery of the service contract.
The court upheld the right of law enforcement officials to use such data, but found that the law allowed access to a too broad range of personal information, violating individual privacy rights. The power to retrieve such data for public security reasons or if required by intelligence services should be related to a specific danger in individual cases, when there is an initial suspicion of criminal conduct as part of the investigation and prosecution of offenses, the court said.
The complainants in the case were two groups representing subscribers of telecommunications and internet services. As a result of the ruling, the German government will need to review the telecoms law.
