Except this time it wasn't the German government but a single (local) judge - whereas the "Buttongesetz" was indeed promoted by the federal minister of justice,

Except this time it wasn't the German government but a single (local) judge - whereas the "Buttongesetz" was indeed promoted by the federal minister of justice, who was trying to address end-user complaints. A better comparison would be that people with an open WiFi are liable for what their users do in Germany. Which means that small shops rarely offer WiFi, and large chains track people's identities as if they were Google.