German intelligence can't spy on foreigners outside Germany

Several foreign journalists, as well as German journalists' unions and the NGO Reporters Without Borders, had mounted a legal challenge to the latest amendment to the BND law, which sets out what Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, can and can't do.

The 2017 amendment effectively legalized what the BND had been doing anyway: monitoring telecommunications anywhere in the world, regardless of suspicion.

During a hearing in January, Helge Braun, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, had argued that the monitoring of communication was vital to preventing attacks on the German military abroad. He added that the BND law included "comprehensive protection and control measures" that were unique.

The key legal question was whether foreign nationals in other countries were covered by Germany's constitution, known as the Basic Law, which safeguards human rights – including Article 10, the privacy of correspondence and communications.

One of the largest internet exchange points in the world, the Deutsche Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), is situated in Frankfurt.