 He was the first German diplomat to be elected to the position.On July 3, 2015, Rücker over-ruled the election of Katrin Nyman-Metcalf, the Estonian candidate ranked first by a "consultative group" of five ambassadors – from Poland, Chile, Greece, Algeria and chaired by Saudi Arabia – for the office of the United Nation's first special rapporteur on digital privacy after activist groups said she would not be a strong enough critic of U.S. surveillance.Instead, he proposed the second-ranked candidate instead, Joseph Cannataci of Malta.