Germany's Interior and Justice ministries have agreed on a new set of online surveillance guidelines. But some politicians doubt whether the proposed law meets strict rules mandated by the country's highest court.

Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary group said it would not blindly pass a law formulating new guidelines for the surveillance of personal computers in cases of suspected terrorism or other serious crimes.

"We are going to carefully review whether the legislative draft corresponds with the restrictive parameters laid out by Germany's Constitutional Court, and reserve the right to veto, the group's expert on domestic affairs, Klaus-Uwe Benneter, told the daily Berliner Zeitung on Wednesday, April 16.

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He said regular, careful monitoring would have to occur to ensure that the proposed law is properly applied. He also said those who have been under surveillance must also be informed that their computers were examined.

Staying the course

Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), with whom the Social Democrats are in a ruling coalition, have called on the SPD to agree to the guidelines. Wolfgang Bosbach, the CDU's deputy parliamentary leader, told the newspaper, "When the SPD continues to stir things up, people would begin throwing up their hands in frustration -- they wouldn't understand it."

Bosbach said the CDU had already met the SPD half-way. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble, a CDU member, had already conceded by revoking his wish to allow police to enter suspects' apartments to install spy software on their computers, Bosbach told public broadcaster ARD Tuesday evening.

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