The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (FfDF) is the federal commissioner not only for data protection but also, since commencement of the German Freedom of Information Act on January 1, 2006, for freedom of information.
Before the commencement of the Act, his title was "Federal Commissioner for Data Protection #FfD#". In this capacity, according to the German Federal Data Protection Act #FDPA#, he is an independent control entity providing monitoring for data protection in public federal government positions and at corporations, and telecommunications and postal services. He produces a semiannual activity report. The German Federal Government nominates him and the German Bundestag elects him. During his time in office, he receives remuneration in the amount commensurate with a federal official in salary group B 9. In this regard, his status is that of a public law official, but not, however, that of a civil servant. The term of office is five years. He can be reelected.
A right to refuse to give evidence is available to the federal commissioner in regard to persons and facts with which comes into contact in his capacity as federal commissioner #FDPA §23, sec. 4#. He is also empowered to decide about his employees' refusal to give evidence.
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior establishes the federal commissioner. His agency assumes an exceptional administrative organizational position. The FfDI's budget is accounted for in its own chapter. The necessary personnel and facilities are to be made available to him pursuant to legal regulations. Positions at the FfDI can only be filled with his approval.
The FfDI executes of his office independently subject only to law. There is no technical oversight #FDPA §22, sec. 4#. He is subject to the federal government's legal oversight as well as the Federal Ministry of the Interior's official oversight.
Peter Schaar has been the Office of the Federal Commissioner incumbent since December 17, 2003. Diethelm Gehold represents the FfDI and is its leading official.
The Federal Commissioner monitors #FDPA §24# and advises #FDPA §26, sec. 3# federal civil servants, other public positions at the federal level, telecommunications and the postal service on the grounds of the Telecommunications Act #TCA# and postal law . He advises and monitors implementation of security inspections according to the Security Review Law #SRL#, even to the extent that they affect private business.
Read more about Federal Commissioner For Data Protection And Freedom Of Information: Notes and References
Famous quotes containing the words federal, data, protection, freedom and/or information:
“Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“This city is neither a jungle nor the moon.... In long shot: a cosmic smudge, a conglomerate of bleeding energies. Close up, it is a fairly legible printed circuit, a transistorized labyrinth of beastly tracks, a data bank for asthmatic voice-prints.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“The protection of a ten-year-old girl from her father’s advances is a necessary condition of social order, but the protection of the father from temptation is a necessary condition of his continued social adjustment. The protections that are built up in the child against desire for the parent become the essential counterpart to the attitudes in the parent that protect the child.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“... the sentimentalist ... exclaims: “Would you have a woman step down from her pedestal in order to enter practical life?” Yes! A thousand times, yes! If we can really find, after a careful search, any women mounted upon pedestals, we should willingly ask them to step down in order that they may meet and help to uplift their sisters. Freedom and justice for all are infinitely more to be desired than pedestals for a few.”
—Bertha Honore Potter Palmer (1849–1918)
“We hear a great deal of lamentation these days about writers having all taken themselves to the colleges and universities where they live decorously instead of going out and getting firsthand information about life. The fact is that anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)