Could get you killed.

‘Crazy’ data rules hit German plans to boost army reserve – Reservists’ association says Berlin has lost contact with almost a million potential reservists.

Strict data protection laws are hindering Germany’s efforts to swell the ranks of the armed forces of Europe’s largest nation, its reservists’ association has warned. 

Patrick Sensburg, head of the Reservist Association of the German Armed Forces, said tough German and EU privacy rules meant it could not keep in contact with close to a million people who might help boost the country’s reserve forces as it seeks a stronger role in European defence and security…

Sensburg, a former member of parliament from Merz’s ruling Christian Democrats, added that while some might be unwell or uninterested, if even only a quarter of the 1mn agreed to serve it would be enough to meet the target for reservist numbers. 

He said it was absurd that the body responsible for collecting Germany’s annual television fee could contact citizens a few weeks after they had moved house, while he had no way of tracking down people whose names were in the association’s records.