Saxon police used automated facial recognition in investigation - data protection authority sees no legal basis

Von Kl Redaktion

The effects of the use of automated face recognition by the Saxon police in 21 investigations have raised public awareness of the protection of privacy. The police Görlitz used mobile and inpatient devices to monitor the traffic and to evaluate the recordings later, both manually and automated.

The data protection authority has determined that the legal bases on which the police are based are questionable and are not a reasonable basis for such measures. Particularly worrying is the fact that many uninvolved third parties are affected in biometric surveillance.

The authority also criticizes the fact that the image data has not been adequately filtered, which means that people who do not meet the perpetrators were also included in the biometric comparison. This raises serious questions regarding data protection and data storage.

The pirate politician Anne Herpertz, who submitted the complaint, argues that the type of surveillance, whether retrograde or in real time, does not solve the problem. It calls for a clear ban on biometric surveillance by public prosecutors and emphasizes the need to regulate such technologies in Germany, especially as part of the implementation of the European AI Act.

The transparency and protection of the privacy of citizens are at the center of this debate. The discussion about how far the possible uses of facial recognition technologies should go up raises important questions about the rights and freedoms of people. It is crucial that the regulation and control of these technologies to ensure a balanced relationship between security and data protection takes place. - nag