Search results : 1366

On 27 July 2020, the German Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH) issued two decisions on the “right to be forgotten”, which gives people the right to have their personal information deleted by data processors such as search engine operators after a certain period of time. However, the right does not apply without restriction, but depends on a series of factors that need to be weighed up. This is demonstrated by both BGH decisions, in which one claim was rejected while the other was submitted to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The first procedure...

On 19 May 2020, Germany’s Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Committee for the protection of minors in the media – KJM) announced that it had approved another age verification system (AVS module). The ‘Robo-Ident’ module developed by Nect GmbH is a so-called partial solution for the age verification of closed user groups. It identifies people using an automated biometric data comparison process. Such partial age verification solutions can be built into the general youth protection concepts used by different content providers. In practical terms, the system enables...

Several German Bundesländer have launched programmes to support local and regional broadcasters during the coronavirus crisis, including subsidies for their technical infrastructure costs. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the state government, local radio representatives, infrastructure providers and the Landesanstalt für Medien NRW (North-Rhine Westphalia media authority) agreed the ‘Solidarpakt Lokalfunk’ (local radio solidarity pact) to cover the distribution costs for local radio stations for a three-month period. This is funded mainly by the state government and the Landesanstalt...

In a judgment of 19 May 2020 (1 BvR 2835/17), the German Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court – BVerfG) decided that, in its current form, the surveillance of foreigners’ telecommunications abroad by the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service – BND) violated the privacy of telecommunications (Article 10(1) of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law – GG)) and the freedom of the press (Article 5(1)(2) GG). It also ruled that the processing and transmission of the data obtained through this practice and cooperation with foreign intelligence services were...

At the end of the notification procedure, the EU Commission has given the green light for the reform of media regulations in Germany. Despite raising a number of concerns, it said there were no procedural barriers to the adoption of the new Medienstaatsvertrag (State Media Treaty). However, it suggested some ways in which the draft treaty could be more closely aligned with common EU legislation. The reform process is designed to adapt the state regulatory framework to the digitalised media world, especially with regard to online platforms and streaming services, and to replace Germany’s...