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Merkel Backs Computer Surveillance,
Urges Coalition Backing
Claudia Rach
Bloomberg
Wednesday September 5, 2007
German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed her interior minister's
proposal for online surveillance of personal computers, placing
pressure on her coalition partners to agree to legislation that
would enable monitoring.
Accessing a potential terrorist's computer must become a possibility
if Germany is serious about the fight against terrorism, Merkel
said today at a congress of her Christian Democratic Union party
in the western town of Hanau. Even so, searches shouldn't be conducted
without the approval of a judge, she said.
``There can't be any room where terrorists know that they can
exchange information without the government having access to it,''
Merkel said. Time is of the essence, ``because the danger is imminent.''
Merkel's comments back up those of Interior Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble, who has repeatedly called for legislation to allow
the secret service to carry out online monitoring of terrorists
suspects' personal computers. On Jan. 31, the Federal Court of
Justice suspended the covert online tapping of personal computers
by the secret service, and the Social Democratic Party, Merkel's
coalition partner, is wary of enacting new measures.
(Article continues below)
Schaeuble's draft bill also foresees tapping a terrorism suspect's
computer for up to three days without any legal approval in urgent
cases, so long as all other measures to gather information have
failed, according to Stefan Kaller, Schaeuble's spokesman. That
point is still up for discussion, he added.
The Social Democrats disapprove of searches of an apartment or
a computer without a judge's approval, party leader Kurt Beck
told ARD television yesterday, adding that such a step would be
``a wrong decision.''
The surveillance of computers may also involve a change to Germany's
constitution, a move that is opposed by Justice Minister Brigitte
Zypries, also a Social Democrat.
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