Faeser considers Buschmann's draft for data storage to be insufficient

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) does not consider the alternative to controversial data retention proposed by Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) to be sufficient. "The quick freeze procedure, which is newly regulated in the draft, can be used as an accompanying instrument in specific applications and can provide important investigative findings," said Faeser on Tuesday. However, it is “not an adequate replacement for storing IP addresses”.

She announced that she would examine the draft submitted by the Ministry of Justice in detail. "The basis of our actions should be the supreme case law of the European Court of Justice," Faeser demanded. "We should implement what the ECJ has expressly declared to be compatible with our fundamental rights and what is urgently needed to fight serious crime."

She referred to the decision of the ECJ judges, according to which IP addresses can be retained under certain conditions in order to combat serious crime. "In addition, the ECJ allows specific storage arrangements for locations such as airports or train stations and for areas with a high crime rate," added Faeser. "We must use the legal opportunities this opens up in order to be able to act consistently in the fight against organized crime, extremist and terrorist threats and other serious crimes."

The FDP politician Buschmann had presented a proposal for a procedure for securing telecommunications data that was limited to concrete suspected cases. The draft for the introduction of "Quick Freeze" was sent to the other departments of the federal government for approval on Tuesday. With the quick freeze procedure, telecommunications providers are obliged to store data on individual users for a certain period of time if there is an initial suspicion – so to speak, to “freeze”. However, this should only be possible in the case of serious crimes such as manslaughter, extortion or child abuse.

In the case of data retention, on the other hand, data such as telephone number, IP address or location data are stored by all users without cause. It is not about the content of the communication. However, several courts also saw the unreasonable storage of traffic data, which could be used to create movement profiles, as an excessive invasion of privacy. Most recently, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared mass storage inadmissible and overturned the German regulation, which has been suspended for a long time anyway due to the legal disputes. The ECJ set narrow limits on the storage of telecommunications data for the investigation of criminal offenses.