The collapse of EU-wide plans for mandatory chat monitoring aimed at combating child pornography has prompted a renewed push from the German Federal Judges’ Association (DRB) for a national mandate requiring the storage of IP addresses. While acknowledging the merit of shelving the EU proposal – a move largely attributed to German government pressure – the DRB insists that the coalition government must now act decisively on a domestic level.
“It is a positive development that the overly ambitious plans for state-ordered chat control within the EU have been abandoned” stated DRB Federal Managing Director Sven Rebehn in remarks to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. “However, the coalition now needs to take action at the national level. Law enforcement agencies urgently require the repeatedly promised legal obligation to store IP addresses for a limited period. In cases of child pornography, the IP address is often the only, but always the quickest, investigative lead to identify suspects.
The EU proposal, which would have compelled companies like WhatsApp and Signal to proactively monitor chats for traces of child pornography, faced significant resistance from member states and ultimately failed to secure the necessary majority. German involvement was explicitly cited as a contributing factor in its downfall.
Despite welcoming the EU initiative’s demise, the DRB emphasizes that tackling the growing problem of online child sexual abuse imagery remains a crucial priority. “While it is absolutely right that the EU is determined to combat child abuse and the increasing flood of child pornography online, it is equally important to proceed in a targeted and proportionate manner” Rebehn elaborated. This, he argues, includes the implementation of IP address data storage, a measure previously outlined in the coalition agreement.
However, progress on a draft law addressing this requirement has been hampered by ongoing deliberations within the German cabinet, further delaying a vital tool for law enforcement agencies and intensifying scrutiny of the government’s commitment to safeguarding children online. Critics are questioning whether the shift from a broader EU solution to a potentially narrower national mandate will genuinely enhance investigative capabilities or merely create a patchwork of regulations with limited impact.