(AFP) 31 December 2007


KARLSRUHE, Germany - Some 30,000 people lodged a complaint in Germany Monday against the creation of a vast telecommunications database as part of anti-terror measures.


The 150-page complaint filed here with Germany’s top tribunal, the Federal Constitutional Court, is intended to stop the programme which will keep tabs on criminal suspects and average citizens alike.

The law, which goes into effect Tuesday, requires telecommunications firms to keep detailed records for six months of telephone calls and Internet use including the date and time of use and who contacted whom.

Data from mobile phones are also to include the location of the callers.

The legislation marks the implementation of a European Union directive but critics say it overshoots the mark in a country in which memories of totalitarian abuses under the Nazis and the East German communists loom large.

Berlin attorney Meinhard Starostik, who filed the complaint on behalf of civil rights activists and Internet users, told AFP he was optimistic the court would strike down the law, saying there were ‘weighty constitutional arguments’ against the measures.

In addition to individual privacy concerns, Starostik said the records would expose the identity of vulnerable groups including reporters’ secret informants, whistleblowers and callers to suicide hotlines.

The EU directive was adopted in 2006 and initiated by Britain, which aimed to beef up anti-terror measures after the attacks on public transport in London in July 2005.
source