German Court Says Police Cannot Put Spyware On Someone's Computer

from the the-new-digital-laws dept

Mon, Feb 5th 2007 8:09pm — Mike Masnick

As various legal systems grapple with new, technology-related issue, it appears that a German court has come down firmly against the idea of allowing police to use remote spying techniques to record what a suspect does on his or her computer. The government had been hoping to use trojan horse programs to spy on some suspected terrorists, but the courts have noted that, unfortunately, doing so is against the law. Of course, law enforcement officials aren't thrilled about that and are now planning to push the government to change the law in their favor -- so it's not like this is over yet.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

4 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

security, 5 Feb 2007 @ 8:24pm

The Reasoning
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=8301

Here is another news article that offers somewhat more detail behind their reasoning
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ScytheNoire, 6 Feb 2007 @ 1:44am

But until they start prosecuting these companies, including the likes of the RIAA and MPAA, then what difference will it make? A law isn't very good if it doesn't get inforced.

Now start hitting companies that violate users rights, and then you'll be getting some where. Just start putting a few executives in prison, and the public will start feeling like the law matters.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
MATTHEW LIX, 7 Feb 2007 @ 6:32am

Re: The Reasoning
I believe that this is definitely a violation of law and the government or police would be violating this law. when they do so it is a violation of due process. but this is what governments and police do anyways. this is not a first.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
qkslvrwolf, 7 Feb 2007 @ 1:56pm

even with a warrent?
If they've got a warrent, I fail to see how this is significantly different from any other warrented observation.

Now, warrentless is another matter entirely.
[ link to this | view in thread ]