The procedure is always the same: The police and secret services are dependent on rapid access to telecommunications and internet data of potential perpetrators. Politicians, from whom society expects success in the fight against terror or child pornography, is always under pressure to adapt to the increasingly sophisticated methods of crime perpetrated via the internet.

And often the end result is a ruling by Germany's highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, which returns the state's all too brusque access to personal data to within narrow limits. This time is no exception.

Eight years ago, the judges in Karlsruhe criticized the regulations in force at the time for gathering inventory data such as name, address, but also the IP address. But even after reforms, the regulations do not meet the high standards of data protection in Germany. In principle, it remains........

© Deutsche Welle