Following hefty criticism from nearly every corner, the German government is backing away from a controversial bill passed last month that would allow local government registration offices to sell citizens’ private information to marketing firms and other interested companies.
The government now believes that the legislation will be changed via parliamentary procedures, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday.
Read more on Spiegel Online. And if you’re wondering, as I was, how a country that has been as privacy protective as Germany could possibly pass such legislation, it seems that the bill passed the Bundestag because it came to the floor on a night that most members of government weren’t there and were out watching a football (soccer) game.