Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – After the decision of the European Court of Justice on data retention, Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Justice Franziska Weidinger is calling for investigators to have the best legal options in the fight against serious crime. “We have to strengthen the judiciary and the police in the fight against criminals and not weaken them,” said the CDU politician on Monday before a meeting of interior and justice ministers in Munich on Tuesday.
“It would therefore not be negotiable if investigators fail to solve crimes because they are not allowed to use IP data to identify perpetrators – even though the decision of the European Court of Justice expressly allows this possibility.” It’s about child abuse and depictions of abuse on the Internet. It is now the turn of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
The court had set narrow limits on the storage of telecommunications data to investigate criminal offenses in Germany. He ruled last Tuesday that the currently suspended regulation in Germany is incompatible with EU law. However, the court explained that it would be possible to retain IP addresses in order to combat serious crime.
Saxony-Anhalt’s interior minister, Tamara Zieschang (CDU), spoke out in favor of the temporary storage of IP addresses last week. For investigators in the fight against the spread of depictions of sexual abuse on the Internet, they are often the most important lead to the perpetrators. “For a start, a crucial step would be for the Federal Network Agency to allow providers to store IP addresses again – for at least ten weeks,” Zieschang explained.
