Although the internet became a nationwide accessible medium of communication in the late 1990s in Germany, the regulation of the internet has been an important topic of discussion in major German politics only very recently. Three debates got internet politics out of its niche: 1) The debate on the law on data retention: The law, having been installed in 2008 by the Grand Coalition, has been declared null and void by the constitutional court in 2010 after a complaint initiated by civil rights activists. The debate is twofold: First, in 2005\2006, there is a debate on how to design the law on data retention and if that law is a violation of civil rights. After the decision by the constitutional court, this debate arises another time, with both adversaries and supporters claiming to have the one valid interpretation of the courts decision. The law-making process is still ongoing without a mutual consent at sight. 2) Becoming even more popular, there was a debate on access-blocking to internet child pornography in 2009\2010. After the Grand Coalition decided upon a law on access-blocking only few months before the nationwide election, a petition to countermand that law was supported by 134,000 citizens. The law was cancelled in 2011, showing a total change of opinion from former supporters. 3) The discussion on net neutrality has only yet begun,1 but shows as well that the policy gap in Digital Civil Rights politics in Germany is not between parties, but between policy-shaped interest groups. The focus of this paper is to identify those Advocacy Coalitions and to reveal their Belief Systems, i.e. the normative basis of their behaviour and the motivation for their attempts of regulation. The paper argues that the main conflict is between home-affairs and internet politics actors.
