Germany’s telecom industry would have to put 50 million to 75 mil...
Germany’s telecom industry would have to put 50 million to 75 million euros a year into new storage systems under a data retention measure that Parliament is weighing, the German Competitive Carriers Association told the lower house, the Bundestag,…
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last week. Holding phone and Internet traffic data on 82 million Germans also will cost dearly, attorney Axel Spies said on the group’s behalf. If lawmakers don’t allow providers’ costs to be reimbursed they face “shipwreck” at the Federal Constitutional Court, Spies said. Cost is only one of several complaints that the association has about the bill. Providers want to help catch terrorists, Spies said, but they fear it may not be constitutional to store all traffic data on all citizens on the chance that someone has committed or threatened to commit a serious crime. The Bundestag wants providers to comply with the retention rules by January, but they can’t do it that quickly, Spies said, warning that stored traffic data are to be used only to prosecute crimes listed in the EU directive. Interpreting the law to include the pursuit of unauthorized music downloaders in civil and criminal courts would further strain carriers and ISPs, he said.