Data Privacy Protection: Why Tutanota Is in Germany • Hacker News Board

Re: Data Privacy Protection: Why Tutanota Is in Germany

#41

Post by MatthiasP » Tue, Dec 22, 2015, 3:55 PM UTC

kriro wrote: post #32

I would not bet on German data privacy laws. Historically Germany was ok in that regard (not exceptional but I'd say squarely in the "one of the better places to keep your data" camp). However "Vorratsdatenspeicherung" was recently voted into action so ISPs have to keep personal information of their customers on file just in case some agency might need them. The law passed relatively smoothly and that's pretty much a…

As always in history it's about the question where do your rights get violated the least and Germany is among those places at the moment. Long time data retention is unfortunately very common in Europe.

Re: Data Privacy Protection: Why Tutanota Is in Germany

#42

Post by vox_mollis » Tue, Dec 22, 2015, 4:16 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #40

nabla9 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seizure can be made public and email server provider take actions to protect against seizure. This is how it should work. Ability to force gag order or implement a backdoor is really disgrace in democratic society.

>email server provider take actions to protect against seizure And how might that be done. The obvious answer would be encrypt the hard drive but what's preventing law enforcement from doing a cold boot attack?

but what's preventing law enforcement from doing a cold boot attack?

Not using ancient DRAM would be a great start. Remanance characteristics of DDR3 makes cold boot attacks extremely unlikely to be successful.

ref: https://www1.cs.fau.de/filepool/projects/coldboot/fares_cold...

Re: Data Privacy Protection: Why Tutanota Is in Germany

#43

Post by wolfgke » Tue, Dec 22, 2015, 4:24 PM UTC

rbehrends wrote: post #39

wolfgke wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Illegal to have open Wifi, that is true :-) (I think it's a 125 Euro fine) No, it is not illegal per se to have an open Wifi, but there is the dreaded paragraph of "Mitstörerhaftung" - that means in lots of cases if someone does something illegal over your open Wifi (say copyright violation), the person who runs the open Wifi will be liable for it.

Störerhaftung (§1004 BGB) does not make you liable; it only means that you can be sued for injunctive relief [1]. Of course, under Germany's "loser pays" rules this means that you can be responsible for the cost of the proceedings. More importantly, in certain situation courts may consider the fact that a tort was committed using your IP as prima facie evidence that you were responsible (this is rebuttable, but can b…

Thanks for the correction.

Re: Data Privacy Protection: Why Tutanota Is in Germany

#44

Post by expertentipp » Tue, Dec 22, 2015, 6:54 PM UTC

prodmerc wrote: post #6

slowmotiony wrote: post #4

Aaah, Germany - the leader of privacy across the globe, the country where you're legally required to give up all your personal information in order to call someone from a prepaid phone card you just bought for 5 euro. And where you're not allowed to open up your wifi hotspot because someone might download an mp3 with it.

> give up all your personal information in order to call someone from a prepaid phone card you just bought for 5 euro. That is flat out untrue. I actually was surprised how easy it was to get prepaid SIM cards (just buy them at any shop/gas station, no info/ID required), load and use them however and whenever I want (also 15 Euros for 5GB 3G and works in USB data sticks, pretty nice). Illegal to have open Wifi, that…

> That is flat out untrue. I actually was surprised how easy it was to get prepaid SIM cards

The service providers offering anonymous SIM cards operate mostly on o2/BASE network which have very scarce coverage, only some of them use Vodafone network (better coverage), and I'm not aware of any operating on TMobile network. If you want to buy a SIM card directly from network operator (o2, Vodafone, TMobile) prepare your passport/id and document confirming your address.

I'm really tired of this smug German "privacy is very important for us" bullshit - because no, it isn't.