Litigation Unavoidable Over Proposed German Data Retention Law

Germany's draft data retention law will unavoidably face legal action to be ultimately struck down, a senior member of Germany's largest journalist association, DJV, told Sputnik on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The German government unveiled a legislative proposal Wednesday requiring Internet and telecommunication companies to store customer traffic and location data for up to 10 weeks upon security agencies' requests. The bill, ostensibly designed to fight terrorism and other serious offenses, also covers social networking websites and mobile messaging applications.

"I am afraid the case will be landing in court and only stop there," Cornelia Hass, head of DJV's journalism department, said.

She added that German journalists will continue to search for dialogue with government representatives to stop the legislation.

The country's Federal Constitutional Court ruled in March 2010 that similar data retention legislation was unconstitutional because it violated guarantees of privacy in personal correspondence.

Germany is engulfed in a separate espionage scandal, implicating former federal chancellery and current Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. It has been revealed by German media that the country's intelligence has been helping the US National Security Agency spy on European targets.

The Federal Intelligence Agency, or BND, is alleged to have spied on some 800,000 IP addresses, phone numbers and email addresses at the behest of the NSA.