The Local Germany

German Justice Minister vows stricter oversight of Facebook

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 10:45:44 +0200

Germany's justice minister on Monday said Facebook should face "stricter" oversight and be more transparent with its users, as the tech giant struggles to contain the fallout from a huge data privacy scandal.

German Justice Minister demands Facebook explain data scandal

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:24:33 +0100

Germany is the latest country to demand answers from Facebook after it emerged data from 50 million users was used to inform targeted election campaigns. German Justice Minister Katharina Barley on Thursday called such methods "a danger to democracy."

German spies 'systematically violating constitution'

Fri, 02 Sep 2016 13:21:20 +0200

The BND, Germany's version of the CIA, has been accused of massive breaches of the constitution in a leaked report by the government's representative for data protection.

Germany to require ID for buying prepaid phones

Wed, 01 Jun 2016 18:39:51 +0200

Those who prefer their mobile phone to remain anonymous are in for a shock in Germany, as ministers agreed on Wednesday to require anyone buying a pay-as-you-go SIM card to present ID.

Minister wants to get tough on terrorists

Mon, 12 Jan 2015 11:16:00 +0100

Justice Minister Heiko Maas said he will introduce a plan this month to take "tougher action" against terrorists, while civil rights activists warned against a knee-jerk response to the Paris attacks.

Secret Berlin Airport docs found in trash

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:56:00 +0200

Thousands of secret planning documents for Berlin's catastrophic BER airport project were found dumped in skips on Monday night - kilometres away from the building site.

Government makes 2,000 Facebook data requests

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:06:00 +0200

The German government made almost 2,000 requests to Facebook in the first six months of the year to get information about users of the social network.

Minister: EU should follow German data law

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 11:01:00 +0200

German data protection standards should form the basis for future EU-wide regulation, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told Die Welt newspaper on Monday.

Experts to Merkel: stop data sharing deal

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 17:19:00 +0200

Data protection officers in Germany are calling on the European Union to suspend its "Safe Harbor" data exchange programme with the US following allegations of widespread spying, it emerged on Wednesday.

Merkel at press grilling: it's a free country

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 16:25:00 +0200

Chancellor Angela Merkel said "Germany is not a surveillance state" and insisted she only learnt of sweeping US online snooping through press reports, during a lengthy election-campaign press conference Friday.

Merkel denies US spying 'old news' to army

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 19:00:00 +0200

The German government Wednesday denied a report claiming that the nation's military knew for years about the US surveillance programme PRISM revealed by fugitive former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

'Unlike Germany, the US is apathetic to spying'

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:46:00 +0200

As the data surveillance scandal unravels further and evidence of new data-tapping arises daily, Germany's press is in overdrive discussing the implications. The Local's Media Round-up delves into some of the juicy bits.

'Brit brother' taps Germany-US data cable

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 13:32:00 +0200

British secret services are tapping a fibre-optic cable carrying data from Germany to the US, German media say, in the wake of bombshell revelations that the British are watching Europeans on a larger scale even than the Americans.

Majority say NSA 'not spying on me'

Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:24:00 +0200

The German Justice Minister reacted with shock on Saturday to revelations that British as well as US spies intercept and collect European communications - yet a survey shows most Germans don't believe they have been in the spotlight.

Germany seeks answers from US for NSA spying

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:46:00 +0200

The German government said Tuesday it planned to send a list of questions to the US administration over revelations that Washington is running a worldwide internet surveillance programme.

Job centre Facebook spying 'is illegal'

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:16:00 +0200

Job centres searching for photos of “ill” people at wild parties or statuses by “broke” people boasting about their new cars were warned on Friday it was illegal to use Facebook to spy on people suspected of abusing the benefits system.

New law unmasks anonymous web surfers

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:35:00 +0200

Anonymous web surfing came a step closer to becoming a thing of the past in Germany on Friday when the upper house of parliament passed a law giving security officials wider access to information on the identity of internet users.

German terror list breaks privacy rules: court

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:40:00 +0200

Police and security officials are relieved after Germany's highest court ruled on Wednesday that the nation's database of terrorism suspects is in line with the constitution, but needs to be tweaked to ensure greater security.

Germany fines Google for privacy violations

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:12:00 +0200

German authorities said Monday they had fined Google for illegally collecting massive amounts of personal data including emails, passwords and photos while setting up its disputed Street View service.

Working on the move increases malware risk

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:03:00 +0100

More and more people are opting to work on the go or from home using smart phones and tablets. But German experts and employers are warning that the practice is putting company information at risk from viral attacks.