http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/83556




New anti-terrorism law goes into effect


With the publication <http://www.bgblportal.de/BGBL/bgbl1f/bgbl107s0002.pdf>
of the Supplementary <http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/75059>
Anti-Terrorism Act in the German Gazette today, the German government's
controversial new measures to combat terrorism have taken effect. This Act
expands and extends the authority created
<http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/11/11539/1.html> for the secret services
after September 11, 2001. The Constitution Office, the Federal Intelligent
Agency (BND), and the Federal Armed Forces Counterintelligence Office (MAD)
will now all be able to collect information from airlines, banks, postal
firms, and telecommunications and teleservice companies. And they can do so
not only when investigating suspected terrorists, but also when
investigating "unconstitutional efforts" within Germany. For instance, the
use of the IMSI <http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/79478> catcher to
monitor mobile communications has been greatly expanded. The Secret Services
may also conduct covert investigations within the Schengen information
system.




The services that have a right to collect information will now have a much
easier time getting it from the private sector. In particular, Article 10 of
the German constitution, which stipulates that a ministerial order is
required with the consent of the G10 commission in the German parliament,
has been restricted, making it easier for the Secret Services to get
information from airlines and banks, for instance. However, the Secret
Services still have to report to the parliamentary oversight commission.

Furthermore, the prerequisites for the acquisition of connection and traffic
data from postal companies, telecommunications firms, and teleservice
providers have been extended to include additional cases of violence. Now,
the investigations must concern attempts to disturb basic democratic liberty
or the existence or security of the federal government or the country or
attempts to illegally obstruct the operations of constitutional
organizational units at the federal or state level or the work that its
members perform. Furthermore, the secret services can obtain data about
vehicles and vehicle owners automatically from the record books. The new
Supplementary Act also provides a legal foundation for a comprehensive test
<http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/81777> for the inclusion of
fingerprints <http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/82845> in electronic
passports.

Germany's Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said he was pleased that this
new authority had been granted; the grand coalition passed the bill
<http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/81859> at the beginning of December
in the German parliament. "Now that the Supplementary Anti-Terrorism Act has
gone into effect, it will be much easier to track down and prosecute
terrorists," the CDU politician explained. "We have created a reasonable
legal foundation adapted to the work that the authorities do to allow them
to perform their job effectively and in compliance with the Constitution. We
also streamlined a few bureaucratic procedures." At the same time, Schäuble
argued that the legislature had not breached "the core privacy of citizens,
whose security is our prime concern." Schäuble emphasized that the authority
granted by the first two anti-terror laws had "helped us trace terrorist
structures and terrorist environments." For instance, Schäuble said the laws
had allowed the government to ban Al Aqsa, which was collecting money for
Hamas.

In contrast, Germany's Data Protection Officer Peter Schaar fears that the
data archives held by telecommunications firms and travel companies will be
"accessed much more often" now that the German parliament's G10 Commission
no longer has to give its consent. He also said he was concerned about
"various secret services now being able to acquire telecommunications access
data." Furthermore, he complained that the recently expanded authority of
security officials was not seriously reviewed before the new ones were
created.



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