German ISPs Can't Retain Data Europe Says They Must Retain?

from the someone-want-to-help-explain-this-one dept

This one is a bit unclear, and we'd appreciate it if someone who knows more about the specifics could fill in the details, but there seems to be some contradictory rules in Germany concerning what sort of data an ISP retains on its customers. After all, the European Parliament has now said that data retention by ISPs is a must, even if it's a pointless and costly endeavor. However, the Inquirer is reporting on a case in Germany where the courts have apparently said that any data that is not needed for billing purposes cannot be retained, as it's a violation of subscriber privacy. According to the article, this means ISPs can't even store the IP addresses of websites you visit. So, if we understand this correctly, the EU is saying that ISPs need to keep lots of data... which the German courts are saying is an illegal violation of privacy.
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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2006 @ 4:04pm

    No Subject Given

    ok... so u posted a topic to say u didnt know anything about it?? makes a lot of sense to me ^_^

    i expect the number of topics u dont know a/b to be very large, so post away.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      John, 26 Jan 2006 @ 4:30pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      ok... so u posted a topic to say u didnt know anything about it?? makes a lot of sense to me

      The story is interesting. What Mike appears to be saying is that the *details* are unclear -- since they seem to contradict. That's not a topic he doesn't know anything about, but that he's hoping someone has more details.

      I swear the level of idiocy in the comments lately has been almost too much to bear. People have absolutely no reading comprehension.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    kingnite, 26 Jan 2006 @ 5:20pm

    No Subject Given

    So this means spam will be comming from Deutschland and no one can track back past the ISP it is comming from.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      None of your Concern, 26 Jan 2006 @ 7:14pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      Once again, High idiocracy.
      Spam originating from Germany, or ISP located in Germany could not be linked to SPAMMING because their would be no record of the violations.
      Data In = Data Out
      Deutschland is not Germany.
      UberNoob

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2006 @ 6:21pm

    No Subject Given

    for once a isp that works for its customers, is it the aoclyple, last i saw my former isp(for a good reasons support to name a few) sbc's owner was trying to make google a premium service for some bullshit reason aka greed

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    RyanC, 26 Jan 2006 @ 8:43pm

    From what I understand

    The EU rules supercede any national laws barring exclusive exemption. So German law mean nothing in this case.

    This is the same reason absinthe is now legal (or rather no longer illegal) in the EU though it had been banned throughout most of Europe.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2006 @ 11:16pm

    Full story at heise.de

    The full story is available at the highly reputable IT magazine heise.de at http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/68801

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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