German gov’t retries pitch to let police use facial recognition on social media

German federal lawmakers are proposing a change to the country’s Code of Criminal Procedure that would allow law enforcement agencies to run biometric searches against publicly accessible online images to identify suspects.

The changes proposed by federal cabinet would give the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Federal Police, and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees legal grounds to search social media sites with facial recognition, heise reports. The regulatory reforms would also enable police to use analysis software to identify relevant data in unconnected law enforcement databases.

More than a dozen civil society organizations, including the Chaos Computer Club, immediately criticized the three draft amendments as a threat to anonymity in public spaces and mass violation of fundamental rights. They suggest the amendments could open the door for authorities to contract companies like Clearview AI or PimEyes. The groups have pointed out a potential conflict with the EU’s AI Act, which bars the indiscriminate use of biometrics in public spaces. An official with the Greens also suggested the proposals may be unconstitutional, and nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition calling for the proposals to be abandoned and name-checking controversial U.S. software provider Palantir.

The government emphasizes that the changes in Paragraph 98e StPO would not involve creating a permanent database or real-time surveillance of public web cameras. Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig of the SPD argues that the changes would simply speed up processes that are legal today, but slow because they are carried out manually.

Germany’s Ministry of Justice composed the draft in consultation with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, according to an earlier report from heise.

The proposals will go to the Bundestag and Bundesrat for approval before becoming law. A similar proposal by Germany’s government failed in 2024, partly due to resistance in the Bundesrat, the legislative body representing the country’s 16 states.

Noyb v Hamburg DPA to revisit Hamburg DPA v PimEyes

The Data Protection Authority of one of those states, Hamburg, registered a complaint against PimEyes back in 2020. The case was closed last November on grounds that enforcement might not be possible.

Now Austrian NGO noyb has filed a lawsuit against the Hamburg Data Protection Authority, with the support of the Chaos Computer Club, to force it to reopen the case and take action against PimEyes.

PimEyes was accused of enabling activists to potential endanger law enforcement personnel in the U.S. last year, at which time CEO Giorgi Gobronidze told Biometric Update that his platform does not attribute identity, and therefore is not subject to the same regulatory restrictions as biometric systems.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Germany  |  law enforcement  |  PimEyes