Germans crank up anti-hacker laws

German hackers beware: fooling around with programs that circumvent German security measures is strictly verboten now that lawmakers have added more "anti-hacker" provisions to the German criminal code, reports Ars Technica.

The law already has its critics who claim the the provision may make some scanning tools illegal and that it prevents necessary security and network research.

"Forbidding this software is about as helpful as forbidding the sale and production of hammers because sometimes they also cause damage," commented the Chaos Computer Club in Germany.

Chaos Computer Club spokesman Andy Mueller Maguhn said that "safety research can [now] take place only in an unacceptable legal gray area."

People convicted under the new law could face 10 years in prison and be held liable for monetary damages. The anti-hacker law comes at a time when the European Union is beginning to develop a European-wide policy to fight cyber-crime including international relations and cross-border police cooperation on DDoS attacks and botnets.