It was in the news... The German, Federal Constitutional Court had to decide on the legitimacy of "state sponsored hacking" - called "Onlinedurchsuchung" (electronic search and seizure) by its proponents - in the context of criminal investigations.

The court decided that the activity was permissible under certain, tightly defined conditions, e.g. in case of a present danger to someone's life (the activity wouldn't, for instance, be legit to pursue tax evasion).

However, the court went one step further: They postulated a new basic right, namely that of confidentiality and integrity of electronic data.

And here we go.

The conflict between the European Data Protection Directive and other legislation has never been fully resolved. Issues like workplace surveillance or retention of connection data with Internet Providers are regulated differently in different European countries and sometimes conflicting legislation exists within the same country.

At least for Germany, if a new basic right has been defined then it will have to face a reality check not just in how it's implemented by the state but also in how such a right will be implemented in the private sector. The country has historically had strong privacy laws and laws protecting the rights of the workforce. What's new is that the court has strengthened protection of individual rights for the protection of a broad range of personal data.

This is just another example of the legal system coming to grips with people living online lives. Even though not everybody is going to like it, it's a logical step. Eventually however, people will not want to rely on legal protection alone. I anticipate the market for privacy enhancing technology to boom.

We live in interesting times.

Sources:

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. :-)

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