Germany Refuses State-Sponsored Virus Infections

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government suffered a shock setback Friday as the upper chamber of parliament refused to pass a bill authorizing police to use computer viruses to hunt terrorists.

The legislation had already been passed by the lower chamber of the Bundestag, where Merkel's grand coalition has a large majority, and had been expected to sail through the Bundesrat -- the upper chamber -- which represents the 16 federal states.

The purposeful installation of a virus into a computer system by a government vested to support and protect its citizenry is absurd. We applaud the parliamentary defeat of the destruction of personal property and intellectual material in the false name of greater protection from terrorism.