(Gemini Audio)
(de-news.net) – The Federal Ministry of Justice has unveiled its draft legislation requiring internet service providers to retain their customers’ IP addresses for a period of three months. According to the government, the primary objective of this measure was to strengthen the state’s capacity to investigate cybercrime, an area in which law‑enforcement agencies have long complained of structural obstacles. Central to the proposal was the introduction of a new investigative mechanism known as the ‘preservation order.’ Under this provision, telecommunications companies would be obligated to secure additional categories of traffic data for the same three‑month period whenever specific indications of criminal activity emerged, thereby ensuring that potentially crucial information would not be lost before investigators could act.
Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) argued that more effective tools were urgently needed to address the growing complexity and volume of online crime. She emphasized that offenders frequently escaped accountability, particularly in cases involving child sexual abuse material, sophisticated forms of online fraud, and criminal hate speech disseminated through digital platforms. In her view, the retention of IP addresses would substantially enhance investigative capabilities by ensuring that digital traces—often the only evidence available—remained accessible throughout the early stages of an inquiry. The draft legislation also sought to streamline procedures for accessing cell‑tower data, which investigators rely on to determine the location of devices involved in criminal activity. The ministry circulated the proposed regulations to federal states and relevant professional associations, inviting them to submit comments and assessments by the end of January 2026.
Support for the initiative came from the Federal Government’s Independent Commissioner on Child Abuse, who described the proposal as a significant and long‑overdue shift in policy. She stressed that IP addresses frequently constituted the only viable means of identifying perpetrators, especially when law‑enforcement agencies encountered previously unknown or anonymously distributed material. By enabling investigators to trace the digital origin of such content, she argued, the measure could facilitate the apprehension of offenders and allow authorities to intervene more rapidly in situations where children faced acute and ongoing danger.
The managing director of the German Association of Judges also endorsed the government’s plans, asserting that the draft appeared to align with the standards established by the European Court of Justice and that the coalition’s promised recalibration of security policy was beginning to take concrete form. The German Bar Association, however, issued a sharply critical response. Its chief executive contended that the proposal represented a substantial encroachment on civil liberties and amounted to an unjustified form of data retention, raising concerns about proportionality, privacy rights, and the potential for misuse of stored information.
