Patrick Breyer (born 29 April 1977) is a German digital rights activist, jurist, Pirate Party Germany politician, and – since 2019 – Member of the European Parliament (MEP). From 2012 to 2017 he was a member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein and from April 2016 until the end of the legislative period he was also the leader of the Pirate group in that assembly. Breyer is one of four European Pirate Party MEPs in the 2019–2024 term along with three Czech Pirate Party members, all of whom are members of the Greens / EFA parliamentary group. Life Patrick Breyer lives in Kiel. He studied law and was awarded a Doctorate of Law in 2004 at the Goethe University Frankfurt with his thesis on The systematic recording and retention of telecommunications traffic data for government purposes in Germany (Data retention). In 2004 he was appointed a judge in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. In 2006 he became a founding member of the Pirate Party Germany. Political activity Legal proceedings concerning digital civil rights Breyer is involved in the Working Group on Data Retention for Information privacy and Civil and political rights and was involved in the organization of the successful class action lawsuit against data retention together with the lawyer and later judge at the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin Meinhard Starostik. In 2016 he again filed a constitutional complaint against the new law on data retention. In 2012, the Federal Constitutional Court declared legislation on government access to telecommunications subscriber data to be partially unconstitutional in response to an appeal filed by Breyer. Breyer and Katharina Nocun again challenged the revised regulation before the Federal Constitutional Court. The complaint was successful on 27 May 2020. Breyer also filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against the compulsory identification of prepaid SIM cards. which was dismissed in 2020. In 2012 Breyer filed a lawsuit against the European Commission for the release of documents on data retention and won in two instances. Breyer filed an action for injunction against the Federal Republic of Germany at the Berlin-Tiergarten District Court in 2008. The action was directed against the general and indiscriminate retention of the user IP address in logfiles when browsing government websites (so-called "surf logging"). After the Local Court had dismissed the complaint in its judgment of 13 August 2008, the Landgericht Berlin granted the request in