Surveillance in Germany: Strategies and Counterstrategies

Abstract

It is generally recognised that state surveillance of private conduct poses simultaneously technical, legal and political questions. In 2008, all three dimensions culminated in Germany, when three new technical surveillance measures became subject of respective rulings of the German Federal Constitutional Court, who seized the opportunity to significantly develop the German fundamental rights system in regard to new technological developments. While the Court built upon independent expert opinion, it appears that German politicians do not understand information and communication technology well and rely too much on the opinion of actors such as the Federal Police, while ignoring that those actors have considerable self-interests, as well. On the political plane, the data retention directive and its transposition into national law has provoked the largest privacy movement ever in Germany. Besides the considerable public awareness induced by this campaign, the movement provides an interesting insight into the possibilities and restrictions of web 2.0 instruments as regards the formation of Internet communities and their political activities.