[JURIST] The German Federal Ministry of the Interior [official website] on Friday published [text; in German] its revised proposal for a new IT security law. The draft law seeks to protect the privacy of German citizens and improve the IT security of companies operating in the country by imposing new minimum security requirements on telecommunications providers and operators of critical communications infrastructure, among others. The most current draft law was based on a version that was proposed in 2013, but was not approved by the legislature before the federal elections in autumn of that year. The proposed legislation must be endorsed by the German Government before it can go to parliament for approval.

Cybersecurity and internet privacy laws have been introduced and amended around the world to adapt to the changing telecommunications landscape. The Senate of Brazil [official website; in Portuguese] passed [JURIST report] an internet security bill in April that places limits on the amount of metadata that can be collected from internet users. Turkish President Abdullah Gul [BBC profile] approved [JURIST report] controversial legislation in February granting the country’s telecommunications authority the ability to block websites and remove content from them at will. In October 2013, the EU Parliament [official website] approved [JURIST report] broad legislation to provide internet users with greater data protection.