Germany reduced constitutional guarantees of privacy Friday to fight organized crime, ceding historical concerns over past dictatorships to present-day realities. By a one-vote margin, parliament's upper house approved changes to the constitution necessary for eventual passage of a law allowing electronic surveillance in private households. The proposed law has raised warnings about reviving the police state tactics of the Nazi regime and former communist East Germany. Mostly, though, critics are worried about breaching confidentiality essential to some professions, such as doctors. Outside of government, journalists and doctors have been the most vocal critics of the draft law, which currently shields conversations between suspects and clergy, parliamentarians, and defense lawyers.
Journalists view the proposed law as an attack on press freedom.
It's about protection of news room secrets, essential press freedoms. Organized crime has risen sharply in Europe since the collapse of communist regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe, which loosened previously closed borders. Drug trafficking, car theft and smuggling of cigarettes, illegal immigrants and even nuclear material has increased. The law must be passed by both houses of parliament.