Previously we reported about:
- Regulation that matters – Sweden – DDoS
- Regulation that matters – UK serious crime bill – tax data being shared with private firms?
| Protecting information assets and data is important. But looking at anti-hacker regulations does not suggest that things will improve soon. |
| Germany’s new rules are meant to apply narrowly to hacking but, instead, they will prevent necessary security and network research and make it tougher for firms to protect their own networks against attackers. |
Friday 2007-05-25 late afternoon, just before the long Pentecoste weekend (all is closed on Monday), the German Bundestag – the lower chamber of Germany’s federal parliament – passed without amendment a controversial government bill with only the Left Party (i.e. left of the socialist party) voting against it. The penal code change is designed to facilitate criminal prosecution of computer crimes. However, already during a public hearing in March security experts and representatives of IT companies raised many objections.These have now all been turned down.
Germany already had a comprehensive penal law against attacks on IT systems, the revision aims to close any remaining loopholes. Read it in detail plus interpreation of the text here:
- DE – Bekaempfung der Computerkriminalitaet – neuer § 202 StGB (Please click on the link, Login as guest – click on this link again and voila free access)
What is difficult to comprehend is the fact that the committee from the Bundestag dealing with the draft was fully aware of the problems the new law would bring when cases would end up in court. It stated:
- ‘Der Gesetzgeber wird die Auswirkungen der neuen Strafvorschriften genau zu beobachten haben. Sollten doch Programmentwickler und Firmen, die nicht aus krimineller Energie heraus handeln, durch diese neuen Strafvorschriften in Ermittlungsverfahren einbezogen werden, wird auf solche Entwicklungen zeitnah reagiert werden müssen.’
as published on the web by Joerg Tauss – MdB – member of the Bundestag
A loose translation would say: The lawmaker will have to assess carefully the results from this legislation. Would it, however, lead to program developers or firms being investigated or prosecuted due to this law based on having acted without criminal intent, quick amendments and changes to the legislation will be needed.’
Unfortunately, last Friday this did not cause any discussions or possible amendments being carried by the Bundestag, few parlamentarians voted against this new article of the penal code.
Besides Germany, Sweden also has tightened regulation and the European Union is trying to come up with its own regulatory framework as outlined here and released last week as well.
- 2007-05-22 – The commission communication ‘towards a general policy on the fight against cyber crime’
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