Day: July 28, 2026
canalbox.ci – Côte d’Ivoire
Supporters of the new regulations argue that the police will gain more effective tools for conducting investigations, while opponents warn against creating a system of mass surveillance of citizens.
The new draft law concerns the mandatory retention of IP addresses and selected technical data of internet users.
The draft prepared by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection envisages an obligation for internet operators to store IP addresses and, in certain cases, also port numbers for 3 months.
In practice, law enforcement authorities would be able to access this information during proceedings concerning serious crimes.
The aim is to make it possible to identify the user of a specific IP address at a given moment.
Experts point out that the police can already request such information from operators today.
The problem is that the data is often no longer available because providers have no obligation to store it for a longer period.
Rules concerning the analysis of mobile phone connections with nearby base stations during investigations are also to be changed.
Critics of the draft reply that the proposed solutions violate the right to privacy and may conflict with earlier case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
They argue that the EU data retention directive was invalidated already in 2014 precisely because of an excessively far-reaching interference with citizens’ rights.
Internet providers also say that there would be high costs associated with implementing the new obligations.
They would have to expand the infrastructure needed for the secure storage of enormous volumes of data and would pass that cost to their clients by charging higher prices.
According to the law firm Bird & Bird, the wording requiring the storage of information needed to identify an IP connection leaves a wide scope for interpretation.
Depending on the technical solutions applied, the obligation could cover more information than just IP addresses and timestamps.
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