In the fight against violence against children, the federal government’s abuse commissioner, Kerstin Claus, is pushing for the obligation to store IP addresses. “In cases of sexual abuse, quick access to stored communication data can be crucial in identifying perpetrators and freeing children from seriously dangerous situations,” Claus told the German Press Agency.
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If internet and mobile phone providers were legally required to store IP addresses for a limited time, such as 14 days, this could make a “significant contribution to child protection”, he stressed. To date, there is no such obligation to uniformly store communications data.
Klaus thus supports the position of the Green Justice Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Benjamin Limbach, who announced the corresponding initiative in the Federal Council in an interview with “Spiegel” earlier in the week. “If our authorities discover that suspects are planning to commit serious crimes on the Internet, they should find out from the provider, with the consent of the responsible court, which people are hiding behind the IP address,” Limbach said. This is clearly about securing the IP address, not about “content, location or movement profiles”.
“No massive data retention”
He said he hoped the federal government would support the proposal and that the Bundestag would change the Telecommunications Act accordingly. His party has also changed its negative stance in this regard. This would not be “massive data retention”, but rather “minimally invasive intervention”, Limbach stressed.
Clouse explained that access to stored data can help stop criminals: at-risk children can be freed from “serious abuse situations”. Especially when investigating authorities have evidence of new, previously unknown material, the computer used can be identified via the IP address. IP addresses are often “the only key to helping children quickly and comprehensively”.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is also in favor of this. In a paper last year, the BKA reported that storing IP addresses for 14 days could significantly increase the success rate in identifying criminals. In the same test in 2022, the identification rate increased from 41 percent to 80 percent.
To date, the Federal Ministry of Justice has rejected the uniform storage of such data without giving any reasons. However, Interior Minister Nancy Fesser (SPD) would support it. Recently, new rules on data retention were also demanded in connection with the alleged terrorist attack in Solingen.
(Mac)
