Germany’s highest court on Wednesday struck down key planks of an anti-terror law, saying they violated privacy protections enshrined in the constitution.
The 2008 legislation covering the activities of the federal police in surveillance of terror suspects must be reworked by June 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe ruled.
The legislation gave investigators sweeping powers to use secret cameras and bugging devices in private homes and government-developed surveillance software on personal computers to prevent imminent attacks.
The German Federal Constitutional Court announces the judgment on an anti-terror law saying it violated privacy protections enshrined in the constitution, on April 20, 2016 in Karlsruhe. (AFP / dpa / Uli Deck)
Controversially, it specifically allowed snooping in the bedroom and bathroom, and for people not targeted in an investigation to be observed if they are with a suspect.
The judges say that while the thrust of the measures is covered by Germany’s Basic Law, they found “several individual provisions disproportionate encroachment on privacy.”
— AFP
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