If you want to use WhatsApp, you may have to enter your name and address in the future. The Federal Ministry of the Interior is pushing for “identification” for messengers.
An “identification requirement” for WhatsApp is currently being negotiated in the Bundestag. (Source: ibphoto /depositphotos.com)
- The Federal Ministry of the Interior apparently wants to oblige messengers and e-mail providers to save the name, address and date of birth of users in the future.
- The data provided must be verified by the provider.
- The “identification requirement” for messengers is to be anchored in the amendment to the Telecommunications Act.
So far it is enough to register with WhatsApp a phone number. This could change soon. The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) is to push for a kind of “identification requirement” for the messenger as part of the amendment to the Telecommunications Act. This is what the Berlin email provider writes Posteo on his blog and publishes a corresponding draft that was leaked to the provider.
According to Posteo, the Federal Ministry of the Interior wants to oblige providers of so-called number-independent telecommunications services to collect name, date of birth and address when registering and to check their accuracy. The BMI mentions WhatsApp as examples of such services, Facebook but also email providers.
How the accuracy is to be checked remains unclear in the template. According to Posteo, identification procedures or the presentation of an identity card are possible.
The provider is critical of the BMI’s proposal, which is why it has made it public. For example, services with advertising-financed, data-driven business models would deliver verified user data on a silver tablet, and this obligation would make it more difficult to anonymously take advantage of online help.
That’s what the Federal Ministry of the Interior says
The BMI has now confirmed the authenticity of the paper. This emerges from a video from the federal press conference that journalist Thilo Jung published on Twitter. The Federal Ministry of the Interior justifies its approach here, after all, corresponding data would also be collected when concluding a telephone contract – without this being called into question. The data should only be accessed in the event of serious criminal offenses being prosecuted.
It remains to be seen whether the BMI will prevail with its demands. The amendment to the Telecommunications Act is currently being negotiated in the Bundestag.
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