Those laws protect against commercial exploitation, but not against endeavours of law enforcement or intelligence services. "Vorratsdatenspeicherung" (data retention) law just took effect. In fact the BND doesn't care about the law at all. Fear driven neo-con politics are en vogue as everywhere else. I think the main difference is the civil opposition which is probably a tad more vocal and active than in non-EU or soon to be non-EU countries.
