Data retention: Federal government needs to consult again

After the deputy government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann surprisingly announced on Monday that the federal government was in favor of introducing an IP storage obligation, the federal government has now discovered a need for consultation again over New Year's Eve. This was announced by the second deputy government spokesperson Wolfgang Büchner in Berlin.

"Good solution" instead of a clear demand

The Federal Government intends to find "a good solution", said Büchner. However, the federal government's talks were "obviously not concluded". He did not see this as a contradiction to previous statements. However, these were clear: "The position is that we need a legally secure obligation to store IP addresses." The 2021 coalition agreement did not provide for mandatory data retention, which would mean data retention without cause. Instead, "it should be possible to store data in a legally secure manner, on an ad hoc basis and by court order."

Büchner's statements today are thus the announcement of another U-turn: "It is about the legally secure obligation to store IP addresses, which is essential in the fight against crime and terrorism and has now been declared not only permissible but necessary by the European Court of Justice," explained Christiane Hoffmann at the government press conference on Monday. She is the first deputy government spokesperson appointed by the Greens. In a further email to correspondents working in Berlin on Monday evening, she expressly reiterated this position: "The Federal Government would be prepared to introduce this."

Internal hullabaloo after lack of coordination

At the time, this was also the agreement reached in government circles. However, it had not been agreed with the parliamentary groups of the governing parties in the Bundestag or with all ministries, as heise online learned from several independent sources. After the report appeared on heise online on Monday, there was a renewed need for consultation over the turn of the year. This resulted in today's statement by the second deputy government spokesperson Büchner that the federal government did not now have a finalized position.

The chief negotiator responsible for the Greens in contentious cabinet matters is their candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics. According to the coalition agreement, the issue of data retention is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Justice. Following the departure of the FDP, the Federal Ministry of Justice is now in the hands of a Liberal, now without a party membership, in the person of Volker Wissing. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) had clearly spoken out in favor of IP data retention. However, last April, shortly before the European Court of Justice's HADOPI ruling on IP retention was announced, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (also SPD) agreed with the then Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP). The coalition would instead implement the Quick Freeze bill – bypassing Interior Minister Faeser and within the framework of the coalition agreement. In exchange, the SPD was to receive the extension of the so-called rent freeze. However, when the FDP left the federal government in November, Quick Freeze had not yet been passed by the Bundestag.

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