Information Privacy
and Security
Individual Privacy
Society’s attitude to individual privacy in Germany is much different than it is here in the United States. I lived in Germany for two years and Germany has some bread called brochen, a brochen is similar to a roll but it is very hard on the outside and soft in the middle. We always compared the German’s to a brochen they were hard to talk to at first but once you became friends with a German they were very soft and friendly. In other words Germans are very private until you become their friend and then they become very open and public.
Import and Export of Personal Data
Data protection deals with the buying of personal information including bank accounts, phone numbers, and other personal data. German has had some problem with the protection of personal data. There was a case in 2005 where Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s biggest telecommunications center admitted to illegally monitoring telephone calls. This case along with another case involving 17,000 bank accounts and address illegally purchased via the internet have lead to the German government writing a new proposal in-order to help protect personal data. The German government is currently trying to increase the fine for data protection and tighter rules.
Computer Crime
They have a group in Europe called the Council of Europe; this council group received a proposal in regards to computer crime. The Council of Europe then adopted the recommendation on September 3, 1989. Accepting the recommendation put minimum criminal policy related to computer crime.
Germany has a penal code at and the fallowing information in regards to the penal code was obtained from the fallowing web-page http://www.mosstingrett.no/info/legal.html#14
Penal Code Section 202a. Data Espionage:
(1) Any person who obtains without authorization, for himself or for another, data which are not meant for him and which are specially protected against unauthorized access, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine .
(2) Data within the meaning of subsection 1 are only such as are stored or transmitted electronically or magnetically or in any form not directly visible.
Penal Code Section 303a: Alteration of Data
(1) Any person who unlawfully erases, suppresses, renders useless, or alters data (section 202a(2)) shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine.
(2) The attempt shall be punishable.
Penal Code Section 303b: Computer Sabotage
(1) Imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine shall be imposed on any person who interferes with data processing which is of essential importance to another business, another's enterprise or an administrative authority by:
1. Committing an offense under section 300a(1) or
2. Destroying, damaging, rendering useless, removing, or altering a computer system or a data carrier.
(2) The attempt shall be punishable.
