German courts uphold privacy rights against secret audio recordings

German courts have reinforced legal protections regarding the privacy of spoken words in two distinct rulings.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) addressed the criminal liability of secret audio recordings under § 201 of the German Criminal Code. In a case involving a defendant who secretly recorded a police interrogation using a concealed mobile phone, the court ruled that the verbal statements of a police officer constitute “the non-publicly spoken word of another.” The court clarified that the professional context of a statement does not strip it of its non-public character, and the law protects the individual right to privacy even when interacting with state officials.

In a separate civil matter, the District Court of Bochum ruled on the unauthorized recording and distribution of audio from a private livestream. The court held that a livestream limited to approximately 30 participants constitutes a private setting rather than a public forum. The ruling affirmed that individuals have the right to determine whether their utterances are recorded and to whom those recordings are played, protecting the general right of personality against the secret recording and subsequent public broadcast of private communications.