Data law condemned by German court

2 Mar 2010

A law in Germany allowing the state to keep information on phone calls and emails has been overturned by the country's highest court for posing a "grave intrusion" to personal privacy.

The law did not make a good enough balance between personal privacy and the need for private security, said the Federal Constitutional Court, which is based in Karlsruhe.

A revision must be made to the law, which ordered all data excluding content from phone calls and email exchanges to be retained for six months, as it violated Germans' constitutional right to private correspondence, said the court