A new draft bill by the federal government of Germany proposes a “Minimum requirement for the retention of IP addresses to prevent serious crime”. This draft is problematic for many reasons, as the proposed minimum retention is not feasible with current technological standards and will lead to significant negative impacts on society.
Operating free public Wi-Fi services, such as those provided by Freifunk, is significantly complicated, if not made impossible. Public Wi-Fi services of this kind are an important part of digital inclusion, particularly for people without mobile data contracts, such as socially disadvantaged groups.
We therefore call for an adjustment of the regulations to align with technical realities, the creation of exceptions for non-profit and non-commercial Wi-Fi providers, the abandonment of blanket data retention requirements, and the inclusion of professional associations in the legislative process.
Further, more detailed statements have already been published (german only) by Freifunk München, the Association of the Internet Industry e.V., and the Federal Bar Association."